Storytelling as Method in Spatial Planning

Abstract

Drawing on the case of the Wageningse Eng in the Netherlands, this paper considers the role of “storytelling” within spatial planning practices. It moves away, though, from seeing it as merely a model of spatial planning, where “storytelling” is sometimes used to justify planners' ideals for the landscape, or a model for spatial planning, which pushes for a normative use of “storytelling” as a means of encapsulating local knowledge and the views of those who live in, and use, the landscape. Rather, the paper engages “storytelling” as a method for revealing how formal planning practices may be destabilized by more vernacular narratives seeking to subvert dominant discourses and processes. In doing so, it seeks to not only show the contested nature of participatory planning within the Netherlands, but also the ways in which narratives—as revealed via such a method—construct specific positionalities with real implications for notions of inclusivity within planning practices.     

Foreign Examples as Eye Openers and Justification: The Transfer of the Anti-Corn Law League and the Anti-Prostitution Movement to the Netherlands

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Dutch movement against stamp duty, as well as the Dutch anti-prostitution movement, was strongly influenced by British examples. In the first case, the prestigious model of the Anti-Corn Law League made democratic political action in a respectable, dignified and effective manner conceivable. In the second case the British campaign against ‘regulated vice’ proved that moral movements could enter the political sphere, without losing their religious identity. In both cases the British example was a revelation to, respectively, Dutch liberals and Christian philanthropists. It opened their eyes to other ways of dealing with politics and subsequently contributed to a change in their perception of what politics consisted of. In addition the inspiring examples helped to justify the introduction of modern political practices in the Netherlands and thus played a role in the acceptation of mass politics.

résumé:?Dans la seconde moitié du dix-neuvième siècle les mouvements hollandais contre le timbre fiscal et contre la prostitution furent influencés par des exemples britanniques. Dans le premier cas le modèle prestigieux de la ligue Anti-Corn Law avait rendu possible une action politique digne et respectable. Dans le second la lutte contre la réglementation du vice prouvait que la moralité pouvait rentrer dans la sphère politique sans perdre sa dimension religieuse. Dans les deux cas, les modèles britanniques furent des révélations pour les libéraux et les philanthropes chrétiens. Ils offraient des pratiques révélatrices d'une politique nouvelle et même une autre façon de penser la politique. Ces transferts servirent à justifier l'introduction de pratiques politiques modernes dans les Pays Bas et jouèrent de ce fait un rôle dans l'acceptation de la politique de masse.     

Βλήμενος ἦν (Iliad 4.211): Lexical or Periphrastic?

In this article, we consider whether the form Βλ?μενο? ?ν in Il. 4.211 should be considered lexical or periphrastic. Based on a discussion of the context, an analysis of the usage of the verb β?λλω elsewhere in the Iliad, and an application of some generally accepted criteria of periphrasticity, we conclude that both interpretations are in fact possible. We connect this to the diachronic development of periphrastic constructions, which, in an early stage of grammaticalization, are often ambiguous.