Beyond the Capitalist/Alternative Economic Binary. Diverse Economies in Urban Planning

Capitalism’s dominance in economic discourse has rendered alternative economic practices invisible, narrowing the scope of what is considered viable within planning and economic development. Drawing on Gibson-Graham’s work and the Community Economies Research Network, this chapter challenges binary framings of the economy—such as capitalist versus alternative—and calls for a fundamental ontological and ethical reframing. By rejecting pre-given categories rooted in Western capitalist logics, diverse economies thinking expands the terrain of economic possibility, offering planning a framework to recognize and cultivate collective, interdependent, and community-driven forms of economic life. This theoretical lens is applied to the case of the Vance Avenue Collaborative (VAC), a community/university partnership in Memphis, Tennessee, that resisted neoliberal housing policies and co-produced a long-term development vision grounded in stewardship, commoning, and economic co-production. Through projects such as a resident-led land use plan and the Green Machine Mobile Market, the VAC exemplified how planning can activate and sustain diverse economies. The case illustrates how planning practices, when informed by economic reframing, can empower marginalized communities, disrupt capitalist dependencies, and enable more just and sustainable futures.