Urbanisation and planning in the 3rd world Robert B. Potter Croom Helm, London, 1985, 241 pp.
| Date | 01 October 1987 |
| Author | Francis J. C. Amos |
| Published date | 01 October 1987 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230070420 |
416
Book
Reviews
no reason
to
believe that it would not continue
if
conditions were right. Certainly it
is
an
important sphere, and one in which the Fund's policies of conditionality and surveillance
should be wholeheartedly supported.
K.
W.
S.
MACKENZIE
OSU,
RlPA
URBANISATION AND PLANNING IN THE 3RD WORLD
Robert
B.
Potter
Croom Helm, London,
1985,
241
pp.
The author
of
this book states
in
his introduction that he has written with two objectives.
One is
to
attempt to
fill
the gap between studies
of
particular facets of urbanization and
particular levels of analysis. The other objective has been to present his findings and ideas
stemming from his research in the Caribbean.
Accordingly the first four chapters present a broad review
of
trends and theories concern-
ing urban geography, world urbanization, Third World urbanization and urban planning
in the Third World. The next three chapters relate
to
the author's Caribbean work and
are devoted
to
public participation and perceptions. There is then a short concluding
chapter which summarizes the relationship between spatial and societal organization.
The author's style is lucid, the text very well illustrated and the book
is
a masterpiece
of
condensation. However, the sheer scale of the condensation has almost inevitably led
to
a somewhat dangerous degree
of
oversimplification.
Mr
Potter has summarized a number
of
theories with much greater clarity than is common amongst academics, but the brevity
of
his summaries leaves the reader in ignorance
of
some
of
the major implications
of
these
theories.
Notwithstanding this criticism, the first four chapters amount
to
a
useful introduction
to
urbanization for students and for interested laymen.
It
is
doubtful whether the latter part
of
the book will prove
to
be
as
useful.
Chapter
5
deals with public participation in Third World planning in some detail.
Although the chapter discusses the conventional issues
of
universal involvement. cross-
cultural incompatibilities and the relative value
of
various techniques adopted in sophisti-
cated societies, it does not deal with some of the special characteristics of Third World
participation.
Mr
Potter somewhat misleadingly constantly refers
to
participation as a bilateral activity
and treats the government, central and local, private agencies and the community
as
a
single homogeneous entity in juxtaposition
to
the planners. Yet in reality all these groups
are heterogeneous and often in conflict with each other. Participation
is
therefore very
often a reconciliation process between different sections
of
society.
Secondly, the author neglects
to
make the point that in the Third World public partici-
pation
is
much more a necessary preliminary
to
community self-help than in the First
World. It is therefore more concerned with winning actual commitment rather than the
winning
of
acceptanceholerance required in more affluent societies.
Thirdly, insufficient emphasis
is
given to the fact that the means and methods
of
participation are largely prescribed by the political system
of
a country. quite apart from
the Qhilosophy
of
the government
of
the time.
Chapters
6
and
7
draw more heavily upon the author's work in the Caribbean on
perception. These are interesting and useful case studies of preference analysis with the
emphasis on methodologies for the analysis
of
respondents' subjective preferences. Very
little is said about the basis
of
preference. Although the emphasis seems to be on environ-
mental quality the reader cannot help wondering how much preference
is,
in fact. influenced
by job and economic opportunities. In fact it is rather surprising
to
come
to
the end
of
this book and
to
find that economic factors have been given
so
little attention in relation
to
their influence on urbanization.
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