Planning Perspectives Paper Prizes

Paper Prizes 2010, 2008, 2006, 2004

Paper Prize 2010

The IPHS and Planning Perspectives best paper award is a bi-annual marker of scholastic endeavour and excellence in the field of Planning History. Yet in light of the sheer number of papers published within Planning Perspectives, and their vast thematic range, it is an extremely challenging task to select one outstanding piece of work above all others for the period 2008 to 2010. However this was the task faced by the 2010 best paper committee members:

- Stael Alvarenga de Periera Costa (Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil)

- Murat Çetin (King Fahd University, Saudi Arabia)

- Isabelle Gournay (University of Maryland, USA)

- Carola Hein (Bryn Mawr College, USA)

- Ivan Nevzgodin (Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands)

- and Ian Morley, committee chair (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

After a lengthy review process and much debate amongst the committee members it was felt that three papers stood out from the rest, and thus are worthy of commendation at the 2010 IPHS conference given their outstanding contribution to the augmentation of planning knowledge. These papers being:
  • Florian Urban’s Friedrichstraße, 1987: Neo-historical urban design
  • Ambe Njoh’s Urban planning as a tool of power
  • Peter Larkham and John Pendlebury’s Reconstruction planning and the small town

Of these three papers one in particular was considered to be of particular merit, a paper noted by the committee for its interesting thematic set-up and analysis, and its fresh insight into the nexus between planning policy formation, instruments of authority and their influence over the design of urban space. The winning paper therefore was announced as Ambe Njoh’s ‘Urban Planning as a tool of power’, a paper published in July 2009 in volume 24, number 3 of Planning Perspectives.


Paper Prize 2008

The winner for 2006-7, presented at the IPHS Conference in Chicago (July 2008) was Dr. Duanfang Lu, for her article "Travelling urban form: the neighbourhood unit in China", published in Volume 21(4) of the journal in 2006.

The article discusses the transmission of planning ideas through the lens of the neighbourhood unit and its development and design in China. The research made extensive use of Chinese journals and plans, and Charles Perry's early work. Professor Lu addressed the influence of the Russian superblock, and the emergence of the microdistrict as China's version of the neighbourhood unit. The evolution of the Chinese neighbourhood unit as the nation goes through the cultural effects of post-imperialism, nationalism, communism, and now globalisation is enthralling.

The jury believes that the article follows the traditions of best scholarship from the IPHS and Planning Perspectives.

The jury was unanimous in its selection, but had a wealth of fine articles to choose from. These included Daniel Abramson's article on Beijing preservation policy, Adam Hodges' essay on the jitney bus, and Cristina Purcar's article on railway planning.

Jury members: Carola Hein, Ian Morley, Heleni Porfyriou and David Gordon.

Paper Prizes 2006

Best paper on planning history in Planning Perspectives 2004-2005:
H. Vacher, 'Extension planning and the historic city: civic design strategies in the 1908-9 Copenhagen international competition', published in Volume 19:3, 2004.

Paper Prizes 2004

Best paper on planning history in Planning Perspectives 2002-2003

Carola Hein, 'Maurice Rotival: French planning on a world scale', Parts I & II, Vol 17, No 3 & 4, 2002.