Author Description

Research in planning/strong Because research in planning has not an own goal on itself, it can not be considered as a genre on its own, but as a meeting between two genres. A fruitful meeting of genres implies that in both genres a non-conformative style of acting is used. This non-conformative style can be of a strategic nature and a bold nature. The strategic style implies that research and planning find each other in a common pragmatic interest and do not start a debate on each others principles. A bold style of acting tries to combine research in planning with a fundamental discussion about principles and basic assumptions. This means for instance that in the genre research a discussion on objectivity will be included, while the planning genre include questions on the fundamentals of different planning options. The bold style can be expressed in a learning model and in a contingency model for the communication between research and planning. The learning model tries to integrate the learning cycle of policy making and the learning cycle of research. The contingency model loosens the bonds between a specific planning issue and a specific research question, but let the relevance of research outcome be ruled by coincidence.