The multifaceted and interdisciplinary nature of the knowledge underlying urban planning, and the communication of this knowledge, has been extensively explored as a meaningful element of planning democracy. Much of the literature presents planning knowledge as a binary: either technocratic-professional or local-popular. We propose that currently, with increased information, coverage and debates over planning in traditional and new media, planning knowledge types can be better understood as falling along a spectrum. We explore this evolution - and its impacts on planning democracy - through an analysis of newspaper coverage of planning and plans in Israel. Newspapers in Israel are a primary arena for communication of planning information and knowledge, often shaping public perceptions of plans. We rely on established theoretical definitions of democratic planning processes and examine how planning knowledge is conveyed through these media communications. Using a typology of planning knowledges derived from the literature, we analyze media articles from 6 leading Israeli print and online media outlets that were published between the years 2013-2018 on city master plans, new neighborhoods and urban-renewal complexes. Descriptive textual analysis is utilized to identify knowledge themes, types and framings. The findings illuminate the terms of knowledge “translation,” sharing and transference now impacting planning debates, and the significance of this for the broader planning discourse. Our findings suggest that while media coverage contributes much to the popularization of planning knowledge, a significant portion of media coverage of plans reflects a technocratic-quantitative discourse, in which prevailing market-led ideological perspectives are naturalized and presented as common sense.

​

​

This talk will be presented together with Jesse Fox.