Research

Forward-oriented temporalities of planning and the concern for future generations

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Abstract

In planning (and planning research), sustainable development has so far been predominantly considered from a functionalistic point of view, focusing on how to reach climate goals, causal mechanisms, the performativity of models, indicators and so forth. This paper investigates planning systems’ capacity to address the temporal aspects of sustainability, in particular its underlying tenet of intergenerational equity. The topic is grounded on an ongoing Norwegian Research Council project, LandTime, from which we here present some advancements. To address planning as multitemporal management frameworks and practices, we here consider planning as a technical support for various land policies based on prospective views. Jean-Pierre Gaudin (1985) demonstrated, in France, how particular techniques emerged from the difficult relationship between authority and property that had led traditional government to a point of exhaustion in its efforts in times of growth to secure land for streets, public spaces and services of cities. These technical procedures evolved into powerful tools and institutional arrangements for later reformist and progressist policies of modern government. Recent concerns with intergenerational equity imply a shift in how the future is represented in plans. In 2008, a revised Norwegian Planning and Building Act was approved with a new object clause based on the concept of sustainable development as the main purpose of spatial planning and exalted as adequate for the notion of public interest in matters of land-use regulation. The proposed paper will compare how institutional planning frameworks recently have evolved in Norway, Denmark, and France, especially as a result of the Brundtland commission's report from 1987. The comparative case study seeks to display how institutional arrangements of spatial governance structure historicity, anticipation, land-use and temporalities, and how the rights of future generations may effectively be advocated through planning.