Abstract
Post-modern conceptions of social projects stress the closed nature of the communications involved (discourse). Philosophers in this tradition have presented discourse procedures and power relations as forces constraining the possibilities of expression and change. Two aspects have been selected in this article to examine the appropriateness of the discourse perspective with regard to urban development policy: discontinuity and compulsiveness. An analysis of shifting policy aims in two cities affirms the presence of several features assigned to discourses. Both cities represent different positions on a continuum between more and less disciplined (closed) discourse. Critical voices, however, are never completely absent; they only operate at different distances from the inner political circle.
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