Book Review – by Marilyn Hamilton

Overview

The Future Has Other Plans has been dedicated to “heritage managers who sensed there was a better way to plan but weren’t sure how to get there.” However, it could be a very useful guide for other kinds of planning professionals who might count themselves in the private sector as developers or in the public sector as civic managers or city planners or as managers in civil society/third sector.

Reviewed by Marilyn Hamilton[1]

 The authors McCool and Kohl have structured their book to give the reader a logical but satisfying path through the realities of both natural and cultural heritage projects. The authors use a mixed metaphor of a (Scharmer-style) U path down the left-hand side of an iceberg of challenges, shipwrecks and messy problems through the shift-point at the bottom of the iceberg U and up the right-hand side into the light of a new paradigm reframing practices toward an holistic/integrally-informed approach to planning.

Part 1 introduces the reader to the realities that professional conservationists face as they operate under three major worldviews: Traditional, Modern and Premodern. This part should resonate not only with the experienced project leader but may horrify the less experienced heritage change agent, as the authors share their professional and life experience from natural and cultural sites around the world. Thus, their reviews of what has been, what is and what longs-to-be is well-informed, clearly described and often keenly illustrated.

Part 2 consists of four chapters, each exploring one of the integral quadrants for the benefit of:

  • the Manager’s Mind (Chapter 5)
  • the Manager’s Well-Being, Behaviour and Skills (Chapter 6)
  • the Collective Influences on Planning (Chapter 7)
  • the Institutions that Serve Heritage Sites (Chapter 8).

These are followed by Chapter 9, that summarizes the journey just completed and lays out the Holistic Planning strategy that the authors propose addresses the many barriers explored in Part 1 by applying the learnings of Chapters 5-8.

To access the complete book review in the Integral Review Journal click here.

To download a pdf of the full book review click here. Future has Other Plans ILR pub aug 30, 2020

[1] Marilyn Hamilton PhD is located at Findhorn Foundation Scotland. She is the founder of Integral City Meshworks; author of Integral City Book Series; and the daughter of Jack Herbert, Director of National Historic Sites, Canada.