Planning—Diversity and planning

Planning for Diversity means constructing approaches to spatial planning, which address difference and equality of opportunity. Diversity needs to address difference as well as discrimination social exclusion and environmental injustice. Since difference by itself cannot capture all inequalities, diversity becomes benign without a strong link to equality.

Equal opportunities and diversity are not mutually exclusive. Equality should be the normative value underpinning diversity, giving it teeth and meaning. Equality means ensuring that people with different needs have equality of opportunity and outcome. Diversity without equality addresses only difference. Diversity with equality also addresses power.

Diversity is ‘a state or quality of being different or varied, a point of difference’. Across a large part of the world, people tend to use the term ‘difference’ to refer to the state of being unlike the majority and diversity as the quality of being different. Difference tends to need a reference point to make sense.

One of the characteristics of the relationship between a powerful and a less powerful group is that the norms and values of the powerful are well known to the less powerful men survival may even be dependent on that knowledge. However, the powerful group do not have the same need to know a great deal about the less powerful. The idea of getting to know one another better and learning to appreciate and value differences needs to take account of, both the impact of the power imbalance, and the need to undo some of the damaging stereotypes and misconceptions that may have served to reinforce the power imbalance.