Hegemony, governmentality, territory. Methodological notes on the social history of planinng

Abstract

The social history of spatial planning is a key element in the critical reevaluation of urban and territorial policies. In order to engage planning in the recovery of the commons and the formation of more democratic environments we need to understand its role in the historical production of our present sociospatial structures. This historiographical approach provides an alternative account of the sociopolitical genesis of contemporary planning discourses, techniques and practices, describing their effects and impact on the everyday lives of planned populations. This article analyzes several conceptual and methodological moments of this research project. Firstly I suggest that we use Gramsci’s conceptualization of ‘hegemony‘ and Foucault’s ‘governmentality’ in order to understand the articulation between politics and everyday life in the context of a general social history. This theoretical framework is then translated into spatial terms through the concepts of ‘territory’ and ‘territoriality’. Finally, I study how planning has been mobilized throughout history by particular hegemonic/governmental projects in order to spatially regulate the processes of social reproduction, in a context shaped by struggles of territorility.