Spatial Planning and Urban Development

• Urban Development and Planning: Issues and Dilemmas.- The Topic of Study.- The Many Faces of Planning.- A Crossroads with Many Dimensions.- Emerging Questions.- The Course of Our Discussion.- Unfinished Projects for Disciplinary Foundation.- The Rise and Crisis of Planning Theory.- Urban Design: The Lost Object.- Decision-Centred Views.- The Social Rootedness of Urban Planning.- The Interactive Turn.- The Collaborative Shift.- Escaping into Irrationality.- Designing the Possible.- Mediterranean Planning Cultures: Italy.- Characteristics of the Italian Model.- Towards a Planning Science?.- City Design.- Reformist Mainstream.- The Challenges for Policy Making.- Reconsidering Policy Design.- Critical Issues and Perspectives.- Planning, Implementation and Policy Tools.- Urban Regulation: Critical Issues.- Sense and Limits of Spatial Visioning.- Urban Development Projects in a Strategic Framework.- Rethinking Spatial Planning and Urban Development.- Choosing the Paradigm.- The Quality in Spatial Development.

From the reviews: "The text is grounded in a broad understanding of European planning traditions and conditions, augmented with an awareness of those on the other side of the Atlantic. A good portion of the book is devoted to a historical review of planning theory that acknowledges multiple overlaps in theory and practice in time and space. ... Spatial Planning and Urban Development makes a significant contribution to planning scholarship. ... Ponzini and Palermo have opened many avenues for constructive debate and progress in planning praxis and scholarship." (Sig Langegger, Journal of Planning Education and Research, Vol. 32 (3), 2012)