Postcolonial consequences and new meanings

Planning, as we know it in the field today, is a western concept enrolled in the imagination of futures, and the control of land use. It thus plays a central role in the production of colonial spaces and has been imposed upon colonized peoples with brutal consequences. Postcolonial theorizing offers critical lenses through which we can deconstruct such relationships, and understand the consequences of a planning theory that normalizes itself. Postcolonial theorizing is also a praxis, searching for possible sites of struggle as colonized peoples 'speak back' to imperial power. The question is, can planning be one of those?