Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 2
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON POLICY-MAKING
AND PLANNING, CARTOGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
AND THE USE OF CARTOGRAPHIC REPRESENTATIONS
IN THE PLANNING PROCESS
There is little previous work that explicitly investigates the role of cartographic
representations in spatial planning, let alone at European level. In this chapter, liter-
ature concerned with developing theoretical frameworks for analysing the relation-
ship between language, information, knowledge and power in the planning process
is discussed. Although the role of cartographic representations is not considered
explicitly in most of this work, the different insights that it provides about
how spatial policy is made and communicated, about the exercise of power in the
planning process and about the distortive factors that influence communication
in planning, have important implications for the functions that cartographic
representations might be expected to serve in planning processes. The second
body of relevant literature relates to theories on cartographic communication and
cartographic aspects in map production in particular. In most cases, there is no
explicit consideration of the use of cartographic representations in real-world plan-
ning processes, yet the selection, schematisation and synthesis of information are
important for an understanding of the 'power of maps'. In the last section of this
chapter, analytical approaches explicitly considering the function and role of carto-
graphic representations in planning processes are discussed.
THEORIES OF PLANNING AND POWER, AND THEIR
IMPLICATIONS FOR THE USE AND IMPACT OF CARTOGRAPHIC
REPRESENTATIONS
The body of literature on planning theory, and concerned with developing frame-
works for the analysis of planning, is extensive. The review in this section has to be
selective and focuses on work that offers an insight into issues related to commu-
nicative aspects, power and distortion in planning, as these can provide partial
explanations for the role of cartographic representations in spatial planning
processes.
RATIONAL PLANNING APPROACHES
The rational model is the starting point for many other planning approaches, which
are either a modification of the rational planning approach or a reaction to it. In the
