Beyond the rhetoric. Planning theory in the age of technology

Within the animated debate of contemporary Planning Theory, more and more space is (appropriately) devoted to the critical deconstruction of some forms of rhetoric that, collecting vast consent within the public opinions, have been widely used in the field of urban politics and urban planning. What are these rhetorics? How do they take shape? In an attempt to answer these questions, the paper proposes an exploration articulated on two levels. The first consists in the analysis of rhetoric as an ‘epiphenomenon’, i.e. ephemeral manifestation of a structural tendency: that is, the return, in the f ield of social sciences and in particular of spatial planning, of scientism. By addressing the origins of the disciplinary rhetorics as well as the reappearance of scientism, the paper finally reflects on possible implications for Planning theory in the ag e of technology.