In this important new book Patsy Healey draws on a very wide range of developments in social, political and spatial thought to propose a new framework for planning which is rooted in the institutional realities of the emerging world of the twenty-first century. International in scope and comprehensive in its range, it points a way forward for spatial planning activity, from a narrow technical and procedural focus towards a communicative and collaborative model for achieving common purposes in the shared spaces of our fragmented societies.

Patsy Healey's profile page

Patsy Healey is Professor and Director of the Centre for Research in European Urban Environments, Department of Town and Country Planning, University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Graduate students and academics will find this an important and insightful contribution from one of the leading authors in the field. ... her book is well worth reading for those who advocate inclusionary practice and continue the search for viable options for change.

Canadian Journal of Urban Research, 6:2 (December 1997)

... old themes in planning theory are skillfully reinterpreted for postmodern times.

Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 1998, volume 16