The Paradigm Shift in Urban Planning-Toward an Epistemology of Post-Modern Planning for Sustainable Urban Development in Africa

Abstract

Africa tried five economic development paradigms within the 1970 - 2000 periods. This encounter influenced in theory a paradigm shift from formal to participatory planning. After more than three decades of experimentation, the participatory planning paradigm seems to be unable in practical terms to rework the planning perspective in Africa. It remains at a consultative level albeit the theoretical framework of planning complies in principle with the participatory process. Since the mid-2000, the resilience of the formal planning process drives the emerging neoclassical tradition of post-modernist planning. Thus, the paper suggests reforms in the theoretical framework of planning to make it compliant with the creative principles of neoclassical planning.