Planning Culturally: Cultural Competency & Urban Planning

Richard Brecknock - BLOG April 2022

In an article titled Interculturally Inclusive Spaces as Just Environments, Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, Julian Agyeman, wrote:

What is the role of the planning and urban design professional in the shift toward interculturalism? It is important to note that the placemaking professions most closely associated with the policy, planning, design, and development of public and open spaces are not known for their tolerance of difference, diversity, or cultural heterogeneity. There is a solid case to be made that the training, recruitment, and retention of professionals who more fully reflect the makeup of our “cities of difference,” as Ruth Fincher and Jane Jacobs called them in their 1998 book of the same title, would help speed the production, quality, and maintenance of culturally inclusive spaces, and, critically, the embedding and mainstreaming of culturally inclusive practice within those professions. (2017)

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The notion of achieving culturally inclusive practice in the built environment professions has been the focus of my consulting and research work over the last thirty years.  I strongly agree with the suggestion that we need to better train the profession in order to plan culturally, and to that end I have been reviewing a number of the existing models relating to what I call Cultural Literacy.  The review looked at various models across a range of titles, for example, cultural awareness, cultural knowledge, cultural sensitivity and cultural competency.  Generally, these models have been developed to train students and professionals in the education, business and health sectors, however I would suggest that they are equally relevant to the built environment.

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The first model reviewed was The Cultural Proficiency Continuum from the website of the Center for Culturally Proficient Educational Practice (CCPEP) which proposes a continuum in six phases: Cultural Destructiveness; Cultural Incapacity; Cultural Blindness; Cultural Precompetence; Cultural Competence; and Cultural Proficiency.

The second model was the Development Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) by Milton Bennett, which also presents a continuum with six phases, this time labelled: Denial; Defence; Minimisation; Acceptance; Adaption; and Integration.

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In essence the two models set out a generally similar ‘Continuum’ from a very low level of cultural sensitivity through to achieving cultural competency.  Both models have value in demonstrating to planners and designers that gaining Cultural / Intercultural Sensitivity is an awareness raising process and therefore the models provide a structure in which to self-identify one’s own stage in the continuum. 

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The third model was the Intercultural Readiness Check (ICR) developed by Ursula Brinkmann and Oscar van Weerdenburg.  The ICR format is structured around four evaluation criteria, which are: Intercultural Sensitivity; Intercultural Communication; Building Commitment; and Managing Uncertainty.  The process aims to give individuals and organizations insight into their existing intercultural competences and how to develop them in the future. 

The final model is from the OECD and is perhaps the most relevant to those working in urban environments and I have changed the wording of the four dimensions slightly to make them more relevant for application in the planning and design process. The adjusted OECD Global Competence dimensions are, to: and

While it is important to acknowledge the above phases in the development of intercultural competences and the variations on the models developed by the various theorists, it is also important to recognise that they are only part of the equation.  While these competences are needed in order to be interculturally effective in planning and designing with people from other cultures, built environment professionals also need to behave with empathy, openness and sensitivity to difference, when working with diverse communities.  Gaining Cultural Literacy competencies would lead as Agyeman stated, to helping; the production, quality, and maintenance of culturally inclusive spaces, and, critically, the embedding and mainstreaming of culturally inclusive practice within those professions.  Therefore, leading to the ability to Plan and Design Culturally!

The full Research Report can be downloaded from the Research & Writing page.  

Reference:

AGYEMAN, J. (2017) Interculturally Inclusive Spaces as Just Environments. ITEMS: Insights from the Social Sciences, Social Science Research Council, NY, USA