Through the camera lens: the role of photography in shaping planning histories

Over the past four decades, planning history has developed into a field that interrogates how cities are imagined, designed and remembered. This article celebrates this evolution by exploring an often overlooked but vital element: photography. Far from being a passive record, photography has actively constructed and critiqued planning histories. Drawing on Ariella Azoulay's view of photographs as civic events and Elizabeth Edwards's description of images as ‘dynamic’ and ‘ambiguous,’ the article examines how photographs can disrupt traditional narratives, challenge biases and shed light on untold histories. A survey of nearly 550 articles identifies four recurring analytical uses: reconstructing lost urban forms, rewriting planning histories, reframing spatial narratives and revealing the politics of representation. These approaches demonstrate photography's capacity to complicate official accounts and surface marginal stories of urban change. Yet they are often applied inconsistently and rarely grounded in sustained visual methodologies. This analysis also extends beyond journal articles to include influential planning history books to situate these findings within the discipline's broader historiographical development. By positioning photographs at the heart of planning historiography, the article argues for a more critical visual methodology that can democratize planning histories, broaden authorship and enable more inclusive urban narratives.