Discourses of town and country

There has arisen a great variety in the way we think about the relationship between town and country and in how those ideas are put into practical policy. The old certainties of the isolated town in a country setting have disappeared. By applying a discourse perspective we can understand and explain this variety better: different discourses can be identified within which people think about and act upon the relationship between town and country. An analysis in terms of discourses has certain advantages, apart from being a useful interpretive framework. For example, it admits the creative potential of ideas better than does an analysis in terms of power and interests, and it links theory and policy practice better than does an analysis in terms of paradigms. Finally, an analysis in terms of discourses suggests a way of generating new ideas for the theory about and the policy practice for the town–country relationship. Innovative ideas are likely to be found where two or more discourses meet and challenge each other. This is illustrated by reference to a large-scale programme which has been prepared for fundamental research into the relationship between town and country and new ideas for strategic policy.