Activist planning theory for prefigurative mobilizations

Prefigurative mobilizations, such as alternative micro-communities and urban social movements, organize their practice here and now in ways revealing the activists’ aspirations for a future society founded on principles and values quite different from those forming present capitalist society. This means-ends coherence has wide-reaching consequences for the ethics, policymaking and organization of the prefigurative entities. Progressive radical initiatives often combine such coherence with direct democracy, anti-hierarchy, value rationality, direct action, and real-world experimentation leading to revisions of means and ends – that is, some openendedness. These elements characterize the suggested activist planning theory for prefigurative mobilizations, which it is my aim to describe and analyze. The research approach is to focus on the claim for means-ends consistency, which strongly affects what kind of planning is possible, and to contrast the theory outlined here with well-established modes of planning by comparing decision models, experts-locals interaction and forms of democracy. There is a global need for this, as thousands of intentional communities, prefigurative social movements and transition towns are preparing for transformation to a greener, more just and convivial society without a planning-oriented basis of their efforts. The article fills a serious gap, since planning theory has properly analyzed neither prefiguration nor the consequences of ethically founded means-ends consistency.