Mapping Possibility

Reviews / Votes

"[This] book is not just an autobiographical review of one of the most thoughtful and inspiring writers in the planning field. It is also about how to open up possibilities for life enhancing futures in communities at the harsh margins of contemporary anglo-american social order. It is about a search for generating 'purpose and hope' in such communities and in doing so, learning about different ways of thinking and acting, and about how those of us trained to offer their 'expertise' should ourselves think and act. As a demonstration of what it takes to be a reflective practitioner looking back on her work, Mapping Possibility provides a fine introduction to the work a major scholar in our field and should be high on many a reading list."

Patsy Healey, Emeritus Professor of Town and Country Planning, Newcastle University, UK; an exerpt from a review in Planning Theory and Practice Journal.

"In this book, one of community planning's leading thinkers pulls back the curtain on the intellectual and personal journey that has shaped four decades of scholarship. This collection will inspire anew those of us familiar with her work and be a touchstone text for future thinkers and practitioners of community planning."

Libby Porter, Professor, Centre for Urban Research, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Australia

"In a book of imagination and wonder, Leonie Sandercock has interwoven politics and personal experience to surprise us all, to expand our senses of possibility, to give us an empowering vision of connection and responsibility, intimacy and critical politics too."

John Forester, Professor, Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University, USA

"Sandercock provides an inside-out account of the ways of being, knowing, and acting that shaped her scholarship and practice, spanning the 1970s to the present. Her rich, reflective commentaries show how experience and academic insight co-evolve, so that the reader can deeply understand the fourteen seminal works included in the volume."

Richard Willson, Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California, USA

"Leonie brings to life forty years of debates in planning theory and practice before pointing to the next threshold: reimagining the soul of planning. Using her storytelling skills, this weaving of personal memoir and critical reflection on her own writings and film making is innovative, life affirming, and insightful, recognizing that we are not just talking heads."

Patricia A. Wilson, Professor, Graduate Program in Community and Regional Planning, School of Architecture, University of Texas, Austin, USA

"Leonie Sandercock's latest book speaks to multiple audiences in our community at once: urban studies and planning students curious about the history of our field, early-career scholars charting their research trajectories, and established scholars considering their own impacts and legacies, even as they remain immersed in their work. If you fit into one of these categories, I recommend reading Mapping Possibility, as its format, substance, and tone offer numerous points of entry, regardless of whether you've read Sandercock's work for decades, or if you have not yet read a word by her."

Ward Lyles, Professor, University of Kansas, USA; review for the Journal of the American Planning Association