Revaluing the Local: The Rise of Counter-Planning in Philadelphia and Cologne (1960-1980)

A crucial, yet largely neglected aspect of protest movements directed against urban redevelopment and large-scale infrastructure was their ability to present alternative plans. In fact, the involvement of counter-planners has often been asserted but its relevance has so far not been scrutinized. This article argues that the rise of counter-planning in the 1960s and 1970s is related to a transformation in the understanding of locality. Planners affiliated with community activists also took a stand on the contemporary professional discourse that focused on the specificity of local contexts. To analyze the co-development of community-related practices and planning theory this article draws on the concept of ‘planning cultures’. With reference to ‘planning cultures’ it is possible to assess values underlying planning, decision-making processes and the construction of concrete objects of planning and explain how they changed in their relation to locality as counter-planning emerged.