No Permanent Friends, No Permanent Enemies: Agonistic Ethos, Tactical Coalitions, and Sustainable Infrastructure

Turbulent debates between divergent actors are part of the fiber of planning. One manifestation of tensions is the emergence of tactical coalitions with citizens finding common ground across the political divide. This article seeks to theorize such coalition formation for which planning scholarship is sparse. Drawing from agonism, other scholarship, and three U.S. cases of sustainable infrastructure, I develop a typology of tactical coalitions based on their level of strategic interaction, duration, and transformation. This research and theorization provides compelling evidence that polarized citizens connect in agonistic and deliberative ways outside of formal planning processes and have influence in decision making.