DSUP-
Doctoral Students of Urban Planning 

PhD Seminars

Spring 2008

Abstracts

• Feb 20: Marisa Zapata, "Planning across Differences: Developing cross-cultural planning processes to prepare for the future"
  
  As global forces engender increasingly socially diverse urban spaces, cities and regions these spaces are home to people from different, and often disparate, cultural backgrounds. Such demographic changes challenge planners to develop planning processes that accommodate and represent the multi-vocal nature of these communities. In this talk I discuss my dissertation research about the experiences of stakeholders who participated in an innovative regional planning process in California's Central Valley. Conducted by an area not-for-profit organization, the Great Valley Center, this process utilized a dialogic process called scenario planning to consider multiple, plausible ways the future might unfold in the region. Central to the process, and ideology of the convening organization, was the selection of diverse stakeholders to participate in the process. Using a case study research approach, I explored the experiences of stakeholders, focusing on what they learned from one another's differences. My findings identify characteristics of the process, organization and stakeholders that supported planning in culturally diverse regions. These findings also distinguish between White and Latino experiences during and after the process, offering insights into how planners can adapt their practices to different cultural perspectives about planning. This research contributes to a more nuanced understanding of how planners can more effectively develop planning processes in multicultural communities.