Speaker
Description
Tore Sager, Professor Emeritus
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
7491, Trondheim, Norway
tore.sager@ntnu.no
Phone +47 918 97 158
Abstract: Prefigurative mobilizations, such as alternative micro-communities and urban social movements, organize their practice here and now in ways that are in line with and reveal the activists’ aspirations for a future society founded on principles and values quite different from those forming present capitalist society. The purpose of my presentation is to show that this means-ends coherence has wide-reaching consequences for the ethics, policymaking and organization of the prefigurative entities.
Progressive radical initiatives often combine means-ends coherence with direct democracy, anti-hierarchy, value rationality, direct action, and real-world experimentation leading to revisions of their present practice and their goals for the future – that is, a degree of openendedness in visions of the good society. These elements characterize the activist planning theory for prefigurative mobilizations, and this theory is briefly introduced in the presentation. I focus on the claim for means-ends consistency, which strongly affects central features of the mobilizations’ planning.
A few pitfalls of prefigurative mobilizations deserve mentioning. For example, there is a risk that activists put too much emphasis on developing a beloved micro-community here and now. The more time and resources spent on building a separate identity and developing community members’ sense of belonging, the less energy is allocated to the political task of reforming the surrounding society. Besides, strict policies to further the prefigurative initiative’s distinctive character and identity can make it difficult to find loyal allies. Collaboration with other communities and movements is, however, necessary to influence changes of society at large.
The pros and cons of strict means-ends consistency are briefly discussed. On the positive side it gives no room for hypocrisy. One cannot, for example, claim to have democratic goals and at the same time use authoritarian means. So, aligning the actions of today with the ends of tomorrow has an ethical reason. On the negative side, insisting on realizing a future society corresponding perfectly with the practice preferred today would lead to blueprint planning. This is something that planners have long aimed to avoid, admitting that conditions often change over time, making it necessary to revise goals. Strategies to ensure some openendedness in prefigurative planning will be presented.
The theoretical points are accompanied by vignettes drawn mainly from small, alternative urban communities planning their own area and simultaneously working for social change. These illustrations come from the intentional communities Christiania in Copenhagen (Denmark), Svartlamon in Trondheim (Norway), and Kommune Niederkaufungen near Basel (Germany).
There is a need for an activist planning theory, as thousands of intentional communities, prefigurative social movements and progressive towns (transition towns, slow cities, human rights cities) around the globe are planning for transformation to a greener, more just and convivial society.
References
Davoudi, Simin (2023): ‘Prefigurative planning: performing concrete utopias in the here and now’, European Planning Studies 31(11), pp. 2277-2290.
Sager, Tore (2024): ‘Grassroots urban labs: experimentation and radical planning in alternative microsocieties’, Nordic Journal of Urban Studies 4(1), pp. 1-26.
Van de Sande, Mathijs (2022): Prefigurative Democracy. Protest, Social Movements and the Political Institution of Society. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Yates, Luke (2015): ‘Rethinking prefiguration: alternatives, micropolitics and goals in social movements’, Social Movement Studies 14(1)1-21.
| Keywords | Activist planning; Intentional community; Means-ends model; Planning theory; Prefiguration |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
