Elya Milner, researcher at the Center for Metropolitan Studies, Technical University of Berlin, studies the work of activist planning organizations in cities where systemic inequalities and political violence are exercised through state power structures. The project focuses on Planact in Johannesburg, supporting African communities in the final years of apartheid, and Bimkom in East Jerusalem, assisting Palestinians living under Israeli occupation of the West Bank. It aims to explore the ambivalent and complex nature of activist planning in such political contexts.
The project introduces the term “radical advocacy planning” to describe modes of activist planning that mediate and negotiate different, sometimes conflicting, positions and goals. For example, this includes balancing activist planners' positionality as professional, therefore “insiders” in the planning system, with their commitment to grassroots activism, or reconciling short-term tactical solutions to immediate local problems with long-term strategies for systemic political change. The project provides new insights for planning theory, practice, and education, highlighting the role of urban planners in social and political struggles.