City Politics and Planning

by Francine F. Rabinovitz

Comparative study of some of the factors determining the political impact of the city planner on community decision making.

Published January 1, 1970

Reviews

[Steven Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating book. . . . It was published long ago. But its lessons are still relevant. The book is based on a series of case studies of planning in New Jersey communities. Rabinovitz categorized each city's power structure (from centralized to dispersed power) and the role its planners adopted (from politicized to technicians who applied standard planning formulae to the situation at hand). The lesson? Planning role and community power structure interacted, in that some planners would be more successful in one power structure context than in another. By establishing this, Rabinovitz clearly suggests the relevance of city politics for the success of the planning process.

Again, dated. Also, the conclusions are based on a small number of communities. Nonetheless, a thought provoking volume. . . .