Planning Theory and Practice

The objective of the article is to discuss the relationship between theory and practice in urban analysis and planning, having in mind the authors’ knowledge on the Brazilian experience. It could be said that sociospatial exclusion is the most obvious manifestation of urban structural problems in Brazil. This has been analysed and tackled in different ways, depending on the moment and on the orientation of the prevailing theoretical approach used to interpret capitalist development, the urban question, as well as the nature of social relations determining the role of the state and the possibilities of urban praxis. The analyses in this context, after recognizing the structural nature of the urban question, usually end up by evidencing the hegemony of an abstract space and by suggesting the need to transcend the assumptions of the political economy approach in order to identify alternatives to be put into practice. In theoretical terms, Lefebvrian thought on the possibility of urban praxis producing a differential space has been one possible way to achieve this transcendence. However, this has frequently contributed to increase the disbelief in planning as a strategic field for politics aiming at social change. After the development of this problematic, the article first focuses on knowledge production and practice about urban sociospatial processes. Second, based on an experience of urban/metropolitan planning in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, the article reveals important advances in planning methodology, regulation instruments and sociospatial practice in that context. Having this experience in mind, the last part of the article is dedicated to a discussion on the possibility of democracy being a normative concept for restructuring planning theory as a way towards the struggle for the right to the city and effective social change.