Rationality revisited: Planning paradigms in a post-postmodernist perspective

The historical association between planning and rationality is unquestioned , but postmodernist critiques have raised doubts about the future of ration al planning. This review defines and arrays different types of rationality to reveal that rationality is broader and more diverse than the instrumenta l rationality which has been associated with planning. An integrative frame work associates complementary (contingent) planning paradigms with various farms of rationality, to suggest that the association between planning and rationality continue; unabated. Discussion should shift from questioning th e link between rationality and planning to asking what kinds of planning an d rationality particular cues, situations, or concerts demand.