Glo-cal Visions of Human Habitation for 2100 and their defining cultural paradigms

Thirdly, the critical discursive analysis of urban planning’s theoretical models, and their relations to urban visions and deeper cultural paradigms, is limited to those developed in the context of Western civilisations. The exception is one Indic planning theory and practice – Vāstu – which allows space for the ‘Other’ to challenge Enlightenment’s epistemological dominance in the planning discourse (Sandercock, 2004). Vāstu Śāstras is added to the selection of theories to be assessed, as it is a part of the Hindu-Indic episteme that has influenced that civilisation’s cities for over 26 centuries. It also provides an opportunity for urban futures to be colonised by an alternative worldview and cultural paradigm, instead of perpetuating the mistake of colonising the future with Western paradigms. The Western planning theories are themselves limited to those that emerged after, and as a consequence of the industrial revolution, from modernity to contemporary post-industrial society. Sandercock’s (1998) critique of planning’s official story, which argues that it is missing diverse histories, has serious implications for the selection of urban theories and city visions. The current research may well be vulnerable to the same critique. The genealogy of city visions presented in this thesis is predominately a representation of the history of white male visioning using the lens of gender-neutral social change theories. This research did not examine in detail the question of who was privileged in history by each city vision and how these visions excluded subaltern cultures. Consequently, the current research did not analyse using feminist, postcolonial, or queer theory how subaltern cultures contest the future of the city.

Fourthly, the extent of anticipatory action learning designed into the process is constrained by the limited range of the global city futures online survey. English and Spanish language speakers only are incorporated into this process (due to limited funds) and therefore the findings are likewise targeted at Western urban residents and stakeholders. Considering that the most significant urban challenge within the 21st century lies with developing nations, it is unfortunate that the survey was not more accessible to these regions. However, the global and local surveys are only a pre-test to examine the possibility of designing a method of analysing the CCM’s proposed relationships between visions of human habitation and their defining cultural paradigms. As such the surveys will not empirically validate any correlations or cultural change propositions. Pre-tests in the Western world can thus be justified as they seek to refine the multi-level change model before conducting further surveys in developing regions of the world, and (later) Bibliography, Page 52