I came across the book Urbanisms: Working with Doubt today, and immediately added it to the top of my Wishlist.  The forward of the book touches on one of my frustrations with contemporary urban planning (and civic governance in general): the push for precision and efficiency:

Today, working with doubt is unavoidable; the absolute is suspended by the relative and the interactive. Instead of stable systems we must work with dynamic systems. Instead of simple and clear programs we engage contingent and diverse programs. Instead of precision and perfection we work with intermittent, crossbred systems, and combined methods.

Suspending disbelief and adopting a global understanding is today an a priori condition, a new fundamental for creative work in science, urbanism, and architecture. Working with doubt becomes an open position for concentrated intellectual work.

Details:

Urbanism: Working with Doubt
Steven Holl
Princeton Architectural Press, November 2009. ISBN: 9781568986791
Hardbound, 224 pages, 460 color, 85 B/W illustrations. US$55.00