A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Taking critical junctures seriously: theory and method for causal analysis of rapid institutional change
Social, political, and economic change sometimes occurs during relatively brief periods in which previously relatively stable institutions are transformed and new approaches established. Historical institutionalists refer to these as critical junctures. Processes of incremental revision and evolution are also important, but if critical junctures sometimes produce enduring legacies, then these processes of rapid institutional change are an important topic for research and theory development. Planning history offers many examples of such relatively short periods of significant change that produced lasting and distinct outcomes in different jurisdictions. The study of critical junctures has been a major theme of comparative historical analysis and historical institutionalism for three decades. This has contributed to the development of robust conceptual frameworks detailing the structure and mechanisms of such change processes and associated research methods that are valuable for planning history and comparative urban research. This paper reviews this research, develops a conceptual framework relevant to planning history and urban governance, and points to processes of rapid institutional change characteristic of cities, suggesting that planning and urban institutions are particularly prone to critical junctures because of multi-level governance contexts, urban complexity, the impacts of urban disasters, and the challenges presented by urbanization and technological and social change.
Taking critical junctures seriously: theory and method for causal analysis of rapid institutional change
Social, political, and economic change sometimes occurs during relatively brief periods in which previously relatively stable institutions are transformed and new approaches established. Historical institutionalists refer to these as critical junctures. Processes of incremental revision and evolution are also important, but if critical junctures sometimes produce enduring legacies, then these processes of rapid institutional change are an important topic for research and theory development. Planning history offers many examples of such relatively short periods of significant change that produced lasting and distinct outcomes in different jurisdictions. The study of critical junctures has been a major theme of comparative historical analysis and historical institutionalism for three decades. This has contributed to the development of robust conceptual frameworks detailing the structure and mechanisms of such change processes and associated research methods that are valuable for planning history and comparative urban research. This paper reviews this research, develops a conceptual framework relevant to planning history and urban governance, and points to processes of rapid institutional change characteristic of cities, suggesting that planning and urban institutions are particularly prone to critical junctures because of multi-level governance contexts, urban complexity, the impacts of urban disasters, and the challenges presented by urbanization and technological and social change.
Taking critical junctures seriously: theory and method for causal analysis of rapid institutional change
Sorensen, Andre (author)
Planning Perspectives ; 38 ; 929-947
2023-09-03
19 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
Unknown
Multiscalar governance and institutional change: critical junctures in European spatial planning
Taylor & Francis Verlag | 2018
|Learning from Mistakes: Reflective Planning, Simple Junctures, and Institutional Change
Taylor & Francis Verlag | 2023
|Rescuing Aunt Sally: Taking Institutional Theory Seriously in Urban Politics
Online Contents | 2001
|CIWEM column - Taking climate change seriously
Online Contents | 2004
British Library Online Contents | 2001
|