In recent years, emerging work from the “southern” and “south/eastern” contexts has widened the theoretical discussion and the geographical focus of the contemporary planning debate. Inspired by Arturo Escobar’s notion of the “Pluriverse,” this article proposes a “pluriversal planning scholarship,” to articulate the theoretical and community-based contributions of an evolving stream of planning research that embraces multiplicity, coexistence, and critical thinking. Through a review of over 300 publications in top planning journals, we suggest that pluriversal scholars engage in creative methodologies to do community-based work. They contribute to extending planning theory by drawing from other fields, such as Black feminism, decolonial thought, and Indigenous studies to highlight the everyday experiences and resistances of residents despite a state that is failing them. Additionally, they actively contribute to community-based work through reciprocal theory development with community members, capacity building, and visibilizing residents’ stories when appropriate.
In the capital city of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, climate change and environmental concerns are used to justify massive redevelopment projects in informal settlements located along the rivers Ozama and Isabela. Residents in such river communities negotiate the uncertainty of state planning under a new socio-environmentalism that prioritizes the environment over social concerns, while continuing to pursue bottom-up neighborhood planning despite the powerful rationality of <em>limpieza</em> (cleanliness), the pervasive techniques of responsibilization, and the celebratory spectacles of megaprojects. The uncertainty resulting from governance under socio-environmentalism produces ambivalence towards environmentcentered projects among residents. Drawing on oral histories and interviews with long-time community members, we suggest that residents engage in three ‘sensemaking strategies’ to process their ambivalence in the face of daily precarity, in particular the ongoing threat of evictions. Residents ‘keep up’ with the state and strategically utilize planning language to advocate for community priorities. They engage in practices of storytelling that reproduce a deep sense of community and provide a longer historical understanding of planning interventions. Finally, through verbal speculation and other ‘unsanctioned speech acts’ they analyze disruptions caused by socio-environmentalism, build solidarity with other communities, and think ahead despite uncertainty.
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