Blackwell Reference Online

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In general terms, anarchism has been very influential on urban planning. Its most significant influence is particularly associated with the non-violent and reformist process of social transformation suggested within the theories of Kropotkin and Proudhon. On the one hand, the “Garden City” movement and the plans for metropolitan decentralization are strongly related to Kropotkin's innovative ideas about completely autonomous (self-governed) and self-sufficient communities ( Hall 1996 ). On the other hand, the radical ideal of regionalism , as formed by Proudhon (1890) , is closely connected to modern territorial struggles for regional self-determination, as well as to a specific tradition within regional planning that looks upon regions as physico-cultural entities . In terms of planning theory, anarchism historically represents the ultimate edge of a varied structural reform process within community ( Friedmann 1987 ). This process aims at the decisive abolition of the state as an instrument of class coercion and inequality. The object here is the formation of politically autonomous units of “associated labor,” which are organically linked to larger ensembles by following the Proudhonian principle of federation (see Bell & Bell 1969 ). The establishment of the so-called “non-acquisitive society” is to take place in an emergent regional setting, by systematically practicing ... log in or subscribe to read full text