Albrechts et al. City Territ Archit (2020) 7:1 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40410-019-0111-2 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Practicing transformative planning: the territory-landscape plan as a catalyst for change Louis Albrechts1, Angela Barbanente2* and Valeria Monno2 Abstract This paper advocates the need for transformative planning practices to cope with contemporary crises of climate change and intensifying economic inequality that regions, city-regions, and cities are increasingly confronted with. In-depth examination of planning processes is useful to grasp some crucial promises and problems of transformative planning and open up new possibilities for practice. Accordingly, the paper includes an investigation into the Terri- tory-Landscape plan-making process developed in the Apulia region, Italy. This explicitly and intentionally aimed at promoting a radical discontinuity in regional planning culture and practice by changing the well-established relation- ship between territory-landscape protection and spatial planning. The process revealed that ‘landscape’ could func- tion as a constructive picklock for proposing an alternative to the development-as-growth model frmly entrenched in the region, and envisioning desirable futures focused on the concept of ‘local self-sustainable development’. This implies subverting the hegemony of the ‘economic’ that has reduced dwellers to consumers, and the territory to a mere physical support for any kind of land transformation and urban development which exclude dwellers participa- tion. Using the lens of transformative theory and building on an interpretive research approach that included also direct experience, the paper provides insights on changes in vision and concepts, discourses and practices, approach and instruments experienced in such a planning process. In conclusion, it refects on lessons learned, and highlights some difculties and contradictions with which the way towards transformative planning is paved for researchers engaged in turning their ideas into signifcant achievements in the real world. Keywords: Transformative planning practices, Territory-landscape, Situated planning processes, Self-sustainable local development, Planning vision and concepts Claiming change: planning ambitions cannot be tackled by means of traditional approaches and contextual conditions (Hames 2007), by “just more market” (Hamilton 2004; Our globalised and increasingly urbanised society faces Sachs and Esteva 2003), by extrapolating from the past the combined contemporary crises of climate change and the present, by simply relying on economic growth and intensifying socio-economic inequality and global (Hamilton 2004; Mishan 1967). Tis paper argues that economic disruption (Pelling et al. 2011). While some society as a whole has to accept that it lives in a world believe in the strength of creative capitalism and the— in which much of what it does and how it does it sim- in their view—huge improvements in quality of life it ply cannot continue (Hames 2007, p 278). Tere is ample can provide (Gates 2008), others are convinced that the evidence that the problems and challenges that regions, current challenges are central and structural, and hence city-regions, and cities are confronted with cannot be tackled and managed adequately either on the basis of *Correspondence: [email protected] the neoconservative perspective or on the basis of the 2 Politecnico di Bari, Bari, Italy intellectual, technical-legal apparatus and mindset of Full list of author information is available at the end of the article traditional planning. Tis implies that only the proactive © The Author(s) 2020. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creat iveco mmons .org/licen ses/by/4.0/. Albrechts et al. City Territ Archit (2020) 7:1 Page 2 of 13 response (Ackof 1981) seems appropriate, as it calls for an alternative vision of regional spatial development. Its the transformative practices that are needed to cope with concepts, content and process challenged the “urbanism the continuing and unabated pace of change driven by tradition” (CEC 1997) characterising the regional plan- (structural) problems and challenges. ning system; they also broke with the Italian frst genera- Transformative practices not only refuse to accept that tion of regional landscape plans in compliance with the the current way of doing things is necessarily the best national law n. 431/1985. Finally the TLP difered sig- way. Transformative practices must be imagined as dif- nifcantly from the late 1990s-early 2000s regional spatial fering radically and structurally from the present reality. plans, which were generally centred on principles that are Tey focus on new concepts and new ways of thinking difcult to reconcile such as sustainability, competitive- that change the way resources are used, (re)distributed, ness, and territorial cohesion (Fabbro 2003). and allocated, and the way the regulatory powers are In what follows we will refect on the TL planning exercised (Albrechts 2010, p 1117). As a concrete socio- experience, with the aim to highlight its transforma- historical practice aimed at socially producing a radical tive ingredients and potentials. Tis paper is biased and change, transformative planning—within an intrinsically somehow unbalanced to the extent that it is written from changing, fuxing, and transforming social and physical an insider’s perspective as one author was in charge of reality (see Chia 1999, p 210)—is called upon to recog- the plan. She is an academic who, from 2005 to 2015, was nise the forces of change and to look for visions, means appointed as deputy president of the Apulia regional gov- and instruments to produce alternatives. ernment with responsibility for spatial planning, land- With references to radical change, transformative plan- scape and cultural heritage. In our interpretive research ning has been conceptualized in diferent ways. A num- approach (Yanow 2000), this unconventional participa- ber of strong manifestos for change have been drawn tion was an opportunity to deepen our analysis of the TL up—for reconsidering the absolute faith in economic planning experience and grasp its situated and context- growth (Mishan 1967; Hamilton 2004), for living inter- dependent aspects. Her immediate involvement made it culturally (Landry 2000; Sandercock 1998), for creat- a real-life account of planning-in-action. It ofered a more ing a more sustainable society (Sachs and Esteva 2003), intimate view of the decision-making process than could for social mobilization (Friedmann 1987), for an urban be obtained from any other perspective (for a compara- political ecology (Heynen et al. 2005), for recapturing ble approach see Meyerson and Banfeld 1955; Krum- democracy (Purcell 2009) and for a more radical planning holz and Forester 1990). Tus, our analysis is based not (Albrechts 2013, 2015). Tese manifestos rise some cru- only on the critical revision of ofcial documents and cial general questions when confronted with the actual multimedia information, but also on frst-hand materi- rationalities involved in diverse systems and processes als such as minutes of political and technical committees of planning practice, such as: in which direction should and accounts of formal and informal meetings during the change move, and which forces of change need to be long and turbulent process of drawing up and approving mobilised? what substantive contents should nurture the the plan. planning process in diferent action contexts? and what Te paper refects on the TL planning process. It planning instruments are more suitable to favour trans- describes the key cultural and political contextual con- formative practices? Conceptualisations of radical change ditions that contributed to trigger the TLP as a trans- depend on context. Planners have to recognize the situ- formative planning experience. Ten it discusses its ated nature of processes, knowledge and values which transformative content focusing on changing vision guide both urban and regional planning approaches and and concepts, discourses and practices, and planning transformations at the local level. approach and instruments. Finally it points out what can A focus on practices could be helpful to grasp such be learned from and about transformative planning from crucial aspects. Accordingly, this paper focuses on the this experience. territorial-landscape plan (TLP) for the Apulia region, Southern Italy, which was approved in 2015 after 7 years A framework for grasping the transformative after its outset. Tis planning process explicitly and in TLP intentionally aimed at promoting a radical discontinuity Several powerful and catching concepts in planning are in the regional planning culture and practice by changing very