Sommeren 1976 var jeg ude for en episode, som skulle få afgørende betydning for mit professionelle liv. Jeg læste på tredje år ved Aarhus Universitet og var ansat som studentermedhjælp hos Ribe amtskommune. Mit arbejde var at gennemføre en undersøgelse af social-, undervisnings- og...

This article provides an answer to what has been called the biggest problem in theorizing and understanding planning: the ambivalence about power found among planning researchers, theorists, and students. The author narrates how he came to work with issues of power and gives an example of how...

Dan Lovallo and Daniel Kahneman must be commended for their clear identification of causes and cures to the planning fallacy in, “Delusions of Success: How Optimism Undermines Executives’ Decisions” (July 2003). Their look at overoptimism, anchoring, competitor neglect, and the outside...

When I first became interested in in-depth case-study research, I was trying to understand how power and rationality shape each other and form the urban environments in which we live (Flyvbjerg, 1998). It was clear to me that in order to understand a complex issue like this, in-depth case-study...

This article examines five common misunderstandings about case-study research: (1) Theoretical knowledge is more valuable than practical knowledge; (2) One cannot generalize from a single case, therefore the single case study cannot contribute to scientific development; (3) The case study is most...