The paper casts light on structural factors limiting and shaping the actions of planners. In doing so it attempts to compensate for the emphasis planning theory places on the agency dimension of planners at the expense of the structural limitations they encounter. The paper draws from Giddens’s structuration theory, which depicts how the imbrication of agency and structure within institutional contexts sets the resources and constraints environment wherein social actors function. In order to adapt structuration theory to the reality of planners, the paper explores how motivations driving their agency take form largely within their professional realm. It also highlights the role institutional dynamics and political economy play in setting the structural context in which planners operate. The empirical substance originates from two junctures in the evolution of Toronto planning. The paper paints the picture of knowledgeable and reflective planners making informed decisions within changing structural contexts they do not control.

该论文阐明了限制和影响规划者行动的结构性因素。通过这样做，它试图弥补规划理论对规划者的代理维度的重视，但要以牺牲他们遇到的结构性限制为代价。本文借鉴了吉登斯的结构化理论，该理论描述了制度背景下代理和结构的激励是如何设定社会角色起作用的资源和约束环境的。为了使结构化理论适应规划者的实际情况，本文探讨了驱动代理商发展的动机如何在其专业领域内形成。它还强调了制度动力和政治经济学在设定计划者运作的结构背景中的作用。经验的实质源于多伦多规划发展的两个关键时刻。本文描绘了知识渊博的规划师的图片，他们在他们无法控制的不断变化的结构环境中做出明智的决策。