Comparative Planning Cultures

Sanyal (urban development and planning, MIT) brings together 14 essays by an international group of contributors on planning culture, which he defines as "the collective ethos and dominant attitudes of planners regarding the appropriate role of the state, market forces, and civil society in influencing social outcomes." The essays, based on work done at a semester-long symposium at MIT in 2002, explore 10 nations in diverse states of industrialization and political leanings: Australia, China and Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US. Two of the papers are on theoretical topics; one is about transition and the other examines urban materials in the information age. Annotation c2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Bishwapriya Sanyal is Ford International Professor of Urban Development and Planning at MIT. He served as the Head of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT from 1994 to 2002 and is currently the Head of the Special Program in Urban and Regional Studies, which hosts mid-career practicing planners from around the world at MIT. He is currently working on a book on the internationalization of planning education.