A Critical Look at the Use of Computing Technologies in Planning Education

Abstract

Using John Forester’s elaboration of Habermas’s theory of communicative action, technological biases that result in the distortion of ordinary communication are explored. Planning instruction related to computing technologies should include critical appraisal of their potential for distortion of communication. The findings from an assessment reveal that students’ naive use of spreadsheet technologies increases the likelihood that analytic reports will be marred by distortions of communication. Planning students should be taught to anticipate systematic communication distortions that may arise as inevitable consequences of technological dimensions of everyday decisions. Further investigation is needed into the roles of computing technology in planning classrooms.