Constructing and Deconstructing Plausibility

Deconstruction is a useful method for studying how planners construct plans that are plausible to the profession and the community. This paper is an attempt to illustrate the theoretical ground of deconstruction, its relationship to other critical methods, and how it works. Reading in deconstructive fashion is compared with reading literally, and a deconstructionist analysis of part of a planning practitioners' report is offered. In it the notion of exchange, or quid pro quo, as an aspect of planning practice is handled with technical skill by the authors of the report, yet ultimately it subverts the logic of the report and the logic of planning.