The communicative turn in planning? Examining community planner’s role as a third actor in Beijing, China

Abstract

The communicative turn in Chinese planning practices requires planning professionals to face diverse and conflictual interests and complex urban issues at the neighborhood level. Community planner policy emerges as an institutional innovation, where professionals from different backgrounds are recruited to mediate diverse stakeholder interests in the planning process. However, little research has been conducted on their role as third-party professionals in this context. This study develops a theoretical framework that integrates institutional and agential factors to analyze mechanisms underlying the complexity of third-party professional engagement. We argue that structure–agency interplay is essential for understanding the role of community planners. These planners act as agents with distinct values, knowledge, and skills, yet their actions are also shaped by formal and informal institutions. The findings show that community planners exhibit heterogeneity in performance. They primarily serve governmental interests, often being instrumentalized for the smooth implementation of upper-level policies, while mitigating conflict. Their capacity to function as third parties is primarily motivated by rational considerations and shaped by the hierarchical planning system in which they operate. Only occasionally do community planners approximate the ideal roles posited in communicative or collaborative planning theory.