Davidoff (1965) was an activist lawyer and planner who believed that advocacy planning was a necessary method for representing the low-income and minority groups who were not always on equal footing with the rich and powerful.
An example of this approach is colonialism in Africa during the early nineteenth century, where settlements were created simply for the purpose of exploiting workers and extracting the wealth produced by them.
With the rise of the technocratic experts, they were consulted to design and plan the city in a scientific, logical and rigorous manner which would produce the best outcome for all stakeholders.
This disconnected and elitist approach led to the constant failure of the government to meet the needs of its citizens and was met with backlash, giving rise to alternative planning practices.
Davidoff acknowledges that “conflict keeps people honest”[1] Finally, rather than critiquing the planners and institutions that support them, those that are critical are given the opportunity to instead provide input and feedback on the plans with which they disagree.
Participatory and democratic planning requires a certain level of critical consciousness from the individual participating, otherwise they may struggle to identify problems without being aware of the larger social and economic forces that influences their choices.
[3] The role of the advocate then, must be not only to provide assistance in developing an appropriate plan for the committee to judge, but must also be to encourage the people to be “free, informed, participating to the fullest degree, working together cooperatively, possessed of an understanding of their problems and those of their fellow men”[4]