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Romance and Tragedy in (Post) Modern Planning: A Pragmatist's Perspective

This paper draws on the literary themes of Romance and Tragedy in reflecting on the nature and role of planning in the contemporary world. It explores these themes through a neo-pragmatist lens that is concerned with both romantic creativity and goal-directed, purposive action. These literary themes direct attention to a number of key dilemmas that have exercised the minds of planners in recent times including, for example: the relationship between individual creativity and social action; the connections between reason and emotion; the dark side of modern planning; and, problems of justice and moral culpability. The paper calls for a 'tragic vision' that would involve the deliberate exercise of the 'will to plan' despite a recognition that utopian dreams will never be realized in any absolute sense, and that planning will always have negative unanticipated consequences. The paper refers specifically to the South African context where the national project of Reconstruction and Development provided planners with a rare opportunity to participate in a romantic endeavour of social transformation, but where some of the earlier hopes are now fading.