| Peer-Reviewed

Rethinking Planning and Design Maps: The Potential of Discourse Analysis

Received: 24 June 2022    Accepted: 9 July 2022    Published: 18 July 2022
Views:       Downloads:
Abstract

This paper rethinks the nature of spatial planning and design policy maps and develops a comprehensive analytical framework to help in their analysis. Current research on planning/design maps tends to focus on Western democratic states and also still deals with planning maps as technical tools, or as fixed bearers of a political message. However, planning maps are at once fixed representations, but are also increasingly regarded as being performed and deployed in multiple and often contested ways. The research presented here suggests that studying them as discourse might allow this dual aspect to be apprehended. This conceptual framework understands maps from both planners’ and consumers' perspectives, taking into consideration four dimensions of discourse analysis: text, context, construction and critique. Thus a comprehensive tool is designed to guide the analysis of planning/design maps, dividing it into eight interrelated approaches. This methodology is compatible with a post-structural understanding of maps, and suggests that using discourse analysis can also be an effective analytical tool in the preparation of a plan. It also provides a solid base that planners may depend on, to explore public understanding of plans, assess their reactions and build an understanding of the nature of planning.

Published in Urban and Regional Planning (Volume 7, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.urp.20220703.12
Page(s) 74-86
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Planning Maps, Urban Design, Cartography, Discourse Analysis, Spatial Planning

References
[1] Dühr, S. (2005). Spatial policies for regional sustainable development: a comparison of graphic and textual representations in regional plans in England and Germany. Regional Studies, 39 (9), 1167–1182.
[2] Dühr, S. (2007). The visual language of spatial planning: Exploring cartographic representations for spatial planning in Europe. New York and London: Routledge.
[3] Carton, L. J. (2007). Map making and map use in a multi-actor context. Spatial visualizations and frame conflicts in regional policymaking in the Netherlands. PhD thesis, TU Delft, Delft.
[4] Van der Weist, J. (2012). Farmers making sense out of a cartographic landscape: Like a patchwork of clothes rather than just chunks of parcels. Masters dissertation. Canada: The University of Waterloo.
[5] Phillips, N. & Hardy, C. (2002). Discourse analysis: Investigating the process of social construction. London: Sage.
[6] Zonneveld, W. (2005). Multiple visioning: new ways of constructing transnational spatial visions. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 23, 41-62.
[7] Zonneveld, W. (2011). Visualisation and map-making in complexity: European, transnational and Randstad experiences. Paper prepared for the Regional Studies Association Annual International Conference. Newcastle.
[8] Eckert, M. (1908). On the nature of maps and map logic. Bulletin of American Geographical Society, 40.
[9] Robinson, A. H., & Petchenik, B. B. (1976). The nature of maps: An examination of cartographic design. Madison WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
[10] Harley, J. B. (1989). Deconstructing the map. Cartographica, 26 (2), 1-20.
[11] Pickles, J. (2004). A history of spaces: Cartographic reason, mapping and the geo-coded world. London: Routledge.
[12] Monmonier, M. (1995). Drawing the line: Tales of the maps and cartocontroversy. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
[13] Perkins, C. & Dodge, M. (2012). Mapping the imagined future: the roles of visual imagination in the 1945 City of Manchester Plan. Bulletin of the John Rylands Library of Manchester, 89, 247-276.
[14] Söderström, O. (1996). Paper cities: visual thinking in urban planning. Cultural Geographies Ecumene, 3 (3). 249-281.
[15] Robinson, A. H. (1952). The look of maps: An examination of cartographic design. Mandison WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
[16] Davoudi, S., Shaw, K., Haider, J., Quinlan, A., Peterson, G., Wilkinson, C., Fünfgeld, H., McEvoy, D. & Porter, L. (2012). Resilience: a bridging concept or a dead end? Planning Theory & Practice, 13 (2), 299-333.
[17] Long, N. (1959). Planning and politics in urban development. Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 25 (4) 167-169.
[18] Hoch, C. (1992). The paradox of power in planning practice. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 11, 206-215.
[19] Sager, T. (1994). Communicative planning theory. Hants, Aldershot: Avebury.
[20] Richardson, T. (1996). Foucauldian discourse: power and truth in urban and regional policy making. European Planning Studies, 4 (3).
[21] Ernste, H. (2012). Framing cultures of spatial planning. Planning Practice and Research, 27 (1), 87-101.
[22] Healey, P. (1996). The communicative turn in planning theory and its implications for spatial strategy formation. Environment and Planning B, 23, 217-234.
[23] Corner, J. (1996). The agency of mapping: Speculation, critique and invention. In D. Cosgrove (Ed.), Mappings (pp 213-252). London: Reaktion Books.
[24] Kitchin, R. & Dodge, M. (2007). Rethinking maps. Progress in Human Geography, 31 (3), 1-14.
[25] Tang, X., & Hurni, L. (2007). Regional spatial planning maps: a Sino-Swiss comparison of cartographic visualisation methodologies. Retrieved from: http://icaci.org/files/documents/ICC_proceedings/ICC2009/html/nonref/22_2.pdf
[26] Edney, M. H. (1993). Cartography without progress: reinterpreting the nature and historical development of map-making. Cartographica, 30 (2/3), 54–68.
[27] Rose, G. (2012). Visual methodologies. (3rd ed). London: Sage.
[28] Planning Advisory Group, (1965). The future of development plans: A report by the planning advisory group. UK: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
[29] Hall, P. (2002). Urban and regional planning. London and New York: Routledge.
[30] Spiekermann, K. & Wegener, M. (1993). New time-space maps of Europe. Institute fur Raumplanung, Universität Dortmund. Retrieved from: http://www.spiekermann-wegener.com/mod/time/time_e.htm
[31] Brunet, R. (1980). La composition des modeles dans l’analyse spatial. L’Espace Geographique, 9, 253-265.
[32] Brunet, R. (1987). La Carte, mode d’emploi. Paris: Fayard/ Reclus.
[33] Black, P. and Sonbli, T. Culturally sensitive urban design: The social construction of ‘Homs Dream’, Syria. Urban Studies and Public Administration. 4 (2), 87-105.
[34] Brunet, R. (1973). Structure et dynamique de l’espace français: schéma d’un système. L’espace géographique, 2, 249-255.
[35] Muehlenhaus, I. (2011). Genealogy that counts: using content analysis to explore the evolution of persuasive cartography. Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization, 46 (1), 28–40.
[36] Bal, M. & Bryson, N. (1991). Semiotics and art history. Art Bulletin, 73, 174-208.
[37] Iversen, M. (1986). Saussure v. Pierce: Models for a semiotics of visual art. In A. L. Rees & F. Bozoello, (Eds.), The new art history (pp. 82-94). London: Camden Press.
[38] Wood, D., & Fels, J. (1986). Designs on signs: myth and meaning in maps. Cartographica, 23 (3), 54-103.
[39] Gergen, K. (1999). An invitation to social construction. London: Sage.
[40] Phillips, N. & Ravasi, D. (1998). Analyzing social construction in organizations: discourse analysis as a research method in organization and management theory. Paper presented at The Third International Conference on Organizational Discourse: Pretexts, Subtexts and Context. London.
[41] Woodilla, J. (1998). Workplace conversations: The text of organizing. In D. Grant, T. Keenoy, C. Oswick, (Eds.), Discourse and organization (pp: 31 - 50). London: Sage.
[42] Fairclough, N. & Wodak, R. (1997). Critical discourse analysis. In T. A. van Dijk, (Ed.), Discourse as social interaction. London: Sage.
[43] Hall, S. (1997). Discourse, power and the subject. In S. Hall, (Ed.), Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices (pp. 41-45). Open University, Milton Keynes.
[44] Beverungen, A. (2006). Laclau, discourse, ideology. University of Leciester, Centre for Philosophy and Political Economy.
[45] Foucault, M. (1972). The archaeology of knowledge. Translated by A. M. Sheridan Smith. London: Allen Lane.
[46] Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of prison. Translated by A Sheridan. London: Allen Lane.
[47] Foucault, M. (1973). The birth of the clinic: An archaeology of medical perception. London: Allen Lane.
[48] Wetherell, M. (2001). Debates in discourse research. In M. Wetherell, S. Taylor, S. J. Yates, (Eds.), Discourse theory and practice: A reader (pp 380-399), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
[49] Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. London: Longman.
[50] Lakoff, G. (2004). Don’t think of an elephant! Know your values and frame the debate. New York: Chelsea Green Publishing.
[51] Law, J. (2004). Mess in social scientific research. London: Sage.
[52] McDowell, L. (1992). Doing gender: feminism, feminists and research methods in human geography. Transactions, Institute of British Geographers, 17, 399-416.
[53] Rose, G. (1997). Situating knowledges: positionality, reflexivities and other tactics. Progress in Human Geography, 21, 305-20.
[54] Mattingly, D. J., & Al-Hindi, K. (1995). Should women count? a context for the debate. The Professional Geographer, 47, 425-37.
[55] Crampton, J. (2003). The political mapping of cyberspace. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
[56] Ministry of Housing and Local Government, (1970). Development plans: A manual on forms and content. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. (Published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London).
[57] Black, P. and Sonbli, T. (2019) The ‘veil’ of control: The perceptions and attitudes of UK design control planners. Town Planning Review, 90, (2), 139-166.
[58] Black, P. (2018) Beauty in the eye of the design reviewer: The contested nature of UK design review. Journal of Urban Design, 24, (4), 556-574.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Taki Eddin Sonbli, Philip Black. (2022). Rethinking Planning and Design Maps: The Potential of Discourse Analysis. Urban and Regional Planning, 7(3), 74-86. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20220703.12

    Copy | Download

    ACS Style

    Taki Eddin Sonbli; Philip Black. Rethinking Planning and Design Maps: The Potential of Discourse Analysis. Urban Reg. Plan. 2022, 7(3), 74-86. doi: 10.11648/j.urp.20220703.12

    Copy | Download

    AMA Style

    Taki Eddin Sonbli, Philip Black. Rethinking Planning and Design Maps: The Potential of Discourse Analysis. Urban Reg Plan. 2022;7(3):74-86. doi: 10.11648/j.urp.20220703.12

    Copy | Download

  • @article{10.11648/j.urp.20220703.12,
      author = {Taki Eddin Sonbli and Philip Black},
      title = {Rethinking Planning and Design Maps: The Potential of Discourse Analysis},
      journal = {Urban and Regional Planning},
      volume = {7},
      number = {3},
      pages = {74-86},
      doi = {10.11648/j.urp.20220703.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20220703.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.urp.20220703.12},
      abstract = {This paper rethinks the nature of spatial planning and design policy maps and develops a comprehensive analytical framework to help in their analysis. Current research on planning/design maps tends to focus on Western democratic states and also still deals with planning maps as technical tools, or as fixed bearers of a political message. However, planning maps are at once fixed representations, but are also increasingly regarded as being performed and deployed in multiple and often contested ways. The research presented here suggests that studying them as discourse might allow this dual aspect to be apprehended. This conceptual framework understands maps from both planners’ and consumers' perspectives, taking into consideration four dimensions of discourse analysis: text, context, construction and critique. Thus a comprehensive tool is designed to guide the analysis of planning/design maps, dividing it into eight interrelated approaches. This methodology is compatible with a post-structural understanding of maps, and suggests that using discourse analysis can also be an effective analytical tool in the preparation of a plan. It also provides a solid base that planners may depend on, to explore public understanding of plans, assess their reactions and build an understanding of the nature of planning.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

    Copy | Download

  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Rethinking Planning and Design Maps: The Potential of Discourse Analysis
    AU  - Taki Eddin Sonbli
    AU  - Philip Black
    Y1  - 2022/07/18
    PY  - 2022
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20220703.12
    DO  - 10.11648/j.urp.20220703.12
    T2  - Urban and Regional Planning
    JF  - Urban and Regional Planning
    JO  - Urban and Regional Planning
    SP  - 74
    EP  - 86
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2575-1697
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20220703.12
    AB  - This paper rethinks the nature of spatial planning and design policy maps and develops a comprehensive analytical framework to help in their analysis. Current research on planning/design maps tends to focus on Western democratic states and also still deals with planning maps as technical tools, or as fixed bearers of a political message. However, planning maps are at once fixed representations, but are also increasingly regarded as being performed and deployed in multiple and often contested ways. The research presented here suggests that studying them as discourse might allow this dual aspect to be apprehended. This conceptual framework understands maps from both planners’ and consumers' perspectives, taking into consideration four dimensions of discourse analysis: text, context, construction and critique. Thus a comprehensive tool is designed to guide the analysis of planning/design maps, dividing it into eight interrelated approaches. This methodology is compatible with a post-structural understanding of maps, and suggests that using discourse analysis can also be an effective analytical tool in the preparation of a plan. It also provides a solid base that planners may depend on, to explore public understanding of plans, assess their reactions and build an understanding of the nature of planning.
    VL  - 7
    IS  - 3
    ER  - 

    Copy | Download

Author Information
  • Manchester Urban Design LAB, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

  • Manchester Urban Design LAB, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

  • Sections