Planning with Complexity: An Introduction to Collaborative Rationality for Public Policy

Analyzing emerging practices of collaboration in planning and public policy to overcome the challenges complexity, fragmentation and uncertainty, the authors present a new theory of collaborative rationality, to help make sense of the new practices. They enquire in detail into how collaborative rationality works, the theories that inform it, and the potential and pitfalls for democracy in the twenty-first century. Representing the authors’ collective experience based upon over thirty years of research and practice, this is insightful reading for students, educators, scholars, and reflective practitioners in the fields of urban planning, public policy, political science and public administration.

Table of Contents:
1. Thinking Differently for an Age of Complexity 2. How Can Theory Improve Practice? 3. Stories From the Field 4. The Praxis of Collaboration 5. Dialogue as a Community of Inquiry 6. Knowledge Into Action: The Role of Dialogue 7. Using Local Knowledge for Justice and Resilience 8. Beyond Collaboration: Democratic Governance for a Resilient Society

About the Author :
Judith E. Innes is Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. David E. Booher is Senior Policy Advisor and Adjunct Professor at the Center for Collaborative Policy, California State University, Sacramento, USA.

Review :
"Anyone who works in the public policy arena needs to know what Innes and Booher have to say about collaborative rationality." - Professor Lawrence Susskind, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology www.theconsensusbuildingapproach.blogspot.com "...a wonderful bringing together of 15 years work... the best thing to come out in our field in the past decade" - Professor Leonie Sandercock, School of Community and Regional Planning, The University of British Columbia "'[this] book captures the theory and practice of collaborative governance in an accessible way that students can relate to and helps them to begin to reflect on how to incorporate some of this wisdom into their own thinking, practice, and research.'" - Professor Will Butler, Florida State University "They illustrate [their theory of collaborative rationality] primarily with reference to six diverse case studies of attempts at collaborative planning approaches across the United States. These case studies cover issues relating to water resources, community policing, decommissioning of military sites, comprehensive planning at state level, and growth management, and are discussed in a sequence that flows from the most to the least successful, allowing the authors to develop some key theoretical and practical insights into what works and what does not." - Environment and Planning