Being and becoming: Writing children into planning theory

Abstract

This paper offers a framework to redress the neglect of children in planning theory. Noting that children are viewed as both human beings and human becomings, attention is drawn to the role of planning in regulating both aspects of children’s lives through a construction of childhood that emerged in conjunction with planning’s modernist roots. A recovered history of childhood challenges adult-centric accounts that render children invisible or assume their dependence and helplessness. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, the constitutive elements of this recovered history are examined and contrasted with the spatial segregation and regulation of childhood that is the profession’s current normative framework. The paper concludes by identifying ways that planning theory can be further enhanced by a focus on children and childhood.