Is the perfect poem a memorandum or is the perfect memorandum a poem? the case for a poetic voice in planning in about 3,000 words

摘要

"It's always showtime here at the edge of the stage" Even though 'communicative planning' emerged in the 1990s as "the dominant basis of planning theory" (Almendinger, 2001, p.123), there has been little attention to the detail and inflections, the ambiguities and possibilities of the words spoken and written. There are other modes of language than the professional and instrumental norms, and there is a strand of poetic writing in planning which might be traced back to Pope's Epistle from Gordon Cullen (Jarvis, 1994). The notable example is Thomas Sharp, The Poetry of Planning (Stansfield, 1981). Towards the end of his life Sharp weighed his poetry equally with his design "I felt what would justify my ever having lived would be to build a good new village and write a good lyrical poem". (Thomas Sharp, quoted in Stansfield, 1981, p.174). This essay examines an unusual case of one who has consistently, since his student projects, adopted an unconventional language and a poetic voice in planning Bob Jarvis. It outlines the slight 'poetic tradition' in planning, traces the influences on Jarvis's approach, and then discusses his published poetic work and its theoretical parallels. The paper concludes with a discussion of the wider implications of the poetry of planning.