Antisubordination Planning

Abstract

This article proposes strengthening equity planning by incorporating an antisubordination perspective. An antisubordination approach holds that planning must directly address durable categories of social inequality. Practically, an antisubordination approach requires rigorous evaluation of the impact of proposed policies on historically oppressed groups and the adoption of policies that most ameliorate existing disparities. Recent Supreme Court decisions regarding the Fair Housing Act provide support for an antisubordination approach by recognizing the significance of implicit bias, upholding the ability to bring claims on the basis of a policy’s disparate impact, and confirming that cities can file suit to address shared harms.