Planning and the Modern/Postmodern Debate

Postmodernism is a rejection of totality--whether in the large-scale solutions favoured by comprehensive planning, whether in the aesthetics of standardisation favoured by modern architecture or whether in trends towards economic concentration. Postmodernism has a dark, pessimistic side in demonstrating the possibility of a world characterised by such extreme fragmentation that collective action is no longer possible. But it also has more optimistic implications. Postmodernism emphasises the benefits of diversity; it welcomes the growth of localised protest as a means of promoting democracy; and it opens up the planning process in a way which is typically denied by an emphasis on technical rationality.