Public Health and Urban Planning

This chapter focuses on developments in democratic and pluralistic societies. Participation and community-driven planning were topics of debate after World War II, in light of increasing problems with housing and other issues in cities all over the world. Democratic rule is based on political equality and participation rights—although these are not about participation at the housing and building level, but at district and city level, and about having a say in the planning and design of the built environment. In representative democracies with legislative, executive, and judicial authorities, governments formed at various levels by elected politicians are responsible for political decisions, which include planning, land, and building laws. The social movements are the product and producers of modernization, and urban planning history is a victorious history of "successful" modernization processes. For urban planning history, it is important to contextualize stakeholders, projects, and plans before a socio-political background, and to integrate transdisciplinary and comparative approaches.