The making of planners: Subjectivities of planners related to spatial planning at regional level in the context of wind energy in Germany

在规划理论和研究中，主观性是一个相对被忽视的问题。这是令人惊讶的，因为如果不从概念上考虑规划主体，即那些参与规划过程的人，就很难理解规划。规划政治越来越像身份政治一样运作，这意味着许多声音试图通过规划者的主观性来影响规划及其结果。在这个项目中，我认为空间规划是一种集体的、自觉的场所塑造实践。当我谈到德国的空间规划时，我指的是一种法定的多层规划（Raumordnung），它可能包括不同程度的非正式的、参与性的元素。该项目对规划主题和更广泛的权力结构采取了综合的观点，这些权力结构是它们所嵌入和再现的。总体目标是分析德国规划者在区域一级空间规划和风能发展的界面上的主观性-考虑到风能已成为德国区域一级空间规划中最突出、最具争议和最具象征意义的问题之一。该项目借鉴了后结构主义或后基础主义的身份建构理论，并结合了福柯的治理概念。这些理论假设主体不是社会关系的起源，而是在某种程度上是话语建构的身份和实践的产物。因此，在这个项目中，主体性将被分析为主体化的相互作用的结果，即话语产生的权力/知识结构，使个人屈服并将其转化为主体，以及主体化，即个人塑造自己的实践。计划者的主观性将在不同的政府艺术背景下加以解释，例如主权或新自由主义。在这样做的过程中，该项目将在总体上推进规划理论。在方法上，该项目依赖于文本分析和与规划者的叙述访谈，并结合编码技术。文本文件和受访者的选择遵循最大变化的逻辑，以涵盖尽可能广泛的主体立场和主体化形式。文本分析是在德语规划文献以及关于公众参与和咨询程序的指导文件、手册和门户网站上进行的-总是在区域一级空间规划和风能的背景下进行的。目的是采访大约15个人。研究设计和结果将在公开会议上进行介绍和讨论。

Subjectivities are a relatively neglected issue in planning theory and research. This is surprising given the fact that planning can hardly be understood without considering planning subjects conceptually, namely those who are involved in planning processes. Planning politics increasingly operates as identity politics, meaning that many voices try to influence planning and its outcomes via the subjectivities of planners. In this project, I conceive of spatial planning as a collective, self-conscious place-shaping practice. When I talk of spatial planning in Germany, I refer to a legally codified type of multi-tiered planning (Raumordnung), which may include informal, participatory elements to varying degrees.The project adopts an integrative perspective on planning subjects and the wider power structures in which they are embedded and which they reproduce. The overall objective is to analyse subjectivities of planners in Germany at the interface of spatial planning at regional level and wind energy developments – given the fact that wind energy has become one of the most prominent, controversial and hence emblematic issues of spatial planning at regional level in Germany. The project draws on poststructuralist – or postfoundational – theories of identity-construction in combination with Foucault’s notion of governmentality. These theories assume that the subject is not the origin of social relations, but to some extent a product of discursively constructed identities and practices. Hence, subjectivities shall be analysed in this project as resulting from the interplay of subjectification, i.e. discursively produced power/knowledge structures that subjugate individuals and transform them into subjects, and subjectivation, i.e. practices by means of which an individual shapes her/himself. The subjectivities of planners are to be interpreted against the backdrop of different arts of government such as sovereignty or neoliberalism. In so doing, the project shall advance planning theory in general.Methodologically, the project relies on textual analyses and narrative interviews with planners in combination with coding techniques. The selection of textual documents and interviewees follows a logic of maximum variation to cover as broad a spectrum of subject positions and forms of subjectivation as possible. The textual analyses are conducted on German-language planning literature as well as guidance documents, handbooks and web portals on public participation and consultation procedures – always in the context of spatial planning at regional level and wind energy. The intention is to interview about 15 individuals. The research design and findings will be presented and discussed at a public conference.