Relevanz, Wandel und Anforderungen wissenschaftlicher Politikberatung in der Raumplanung

Abstract

Evidenced based planning is a salient issue and evokes questions about the role of expertise and scientific policy advice in spatial planning. The paper considers recent trends in the debate on scientific policy advice (crises of expertise, privatization/democratization of expertise, blurring of boundaries between science and policy) and reflects upon these trends against the background of the particular situation of scientific policy advice in spatial planning in Germany. Many insights from the wider debate on policy advice also hold true for spatial planning. However, spatial planning, at least in Germany, reveals some particularities. The scientific foundation of spatial planning is interdisciplinary and the gap between science and practice is probably less visible compared to other scientific disciplines. This makes dualistic approaches (science – policy boundaries) questionable. At the same time recent trends towards Gesellschaftsberatung (advice for society), transformative science and transdisciplinarity are attractive directions in spatial planning.