Normative Ecologies of Planning: Understanding Norms in Action

Abstract

The paper deals with planning norms in action, assuming that planning regulation is one among many kinds of regulation with which planners must contend. Norms operate and co-evolve within a normative ecology where institutions collaborate and compete through overlapping and often incommensurate normative frameworks and rules of the game. The importance of socio-materiality in how different regulations work in practice is emphasized. To develop the normative ecology argument, a case study is presented on the effects of Airbnb tourism on the historic center of Napoli in southern Italy.