Local Knowledge in Action

Abstract

This article examines the value of local knowledge in the creative phase of planning practice. It uses the case study of an urban renewal project in Antwerp to explore the ways that workshop participants made sense of the planning situation. Analysis of the “talks” identified shared interpretive “frames” employed by the lay participants. The article goes on to discuss how distinctive these were from the professionals’ perspectives and what the consequences were for the material outcomes of the planning process. It was concluded that the public input was used to making adjustments to planning solutions rather than formulating new interpretations of the planning situation itself.