Possible urban planning, imaginary, existence and culture

Abstract

Urban planning from an economist and mechanistic point of view barely guides the objects and subjects that make the daily life of the city (in totality and totalization), which perceive it from their places of transit and permanence. Thus, this essay aims to propose the culture, the existence and the imaginary as an operative triad of possible urban planning. Methodologically, in order to defend the thesis of dialectical prediction of the imaginary, the following are debated: (i) the instrumental rationality of planning and (ii) the centrality of culture and existence in its revision, leading the subject of and in urban daily life. A dialogue is established with the ontology of Castoriadis’ imaginary, with the theory of Sartre’ existence and the Frankfurtian critical debate on culture, a more recent reflection on cities is also incorporated.

Keywords:
Possible urban planning; Culture; Existence; Imaginary; Daily