Urban strategy in an era of public policy assessment: Beyond the methodological divide

Abstract

This article presents the one-sided intellectual influence of Economics on Urban Studies & Planning, the case of two social science disciplines with different epistemologies and approaches to policy advice. Subsequently, it presents the emergence of the so-called evidence based policy (EBP) approach in Economics, comprising experimental (randomized control trial) and quasi-experimental (difference-in-differences and propensity score matching) methods. The article shows that even though EBP claims to be exempt from normative/political, and even theoretical, considerations, it builds upon two features of neoclassical economics: sufficiency and separability. These conditions comprise its normative neoclassical theory background. We discuss the neoliberal turn in development narratives and their influence on urban planning, which coincides with the emergence of EBP. We analyze some EBP examples in the urban planning scholarship.