Curtin University Homepage
  • Library
  • Help
    • Admin

    espace - Curtin’s institutional repository

    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
    View Item 
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Theses
    • View Item
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Theses
    • View Item

    When experts disagree: discourse dynamics in participatory planning

    131285_MacCallum full.pdf (116.8Mb)
    Access Status
    Open access
    Authors
    MacCallum, Susan Diana
    Date
    2006
    Supervisor
    Adjunct Prof. Jean Hillier
    Type
    Thesis
    Award
    PhD
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Faculty
    Faculty of Built Environment, Art and Design, Department of Urban and Regional Planning
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/1496
    Collection
    • Curtin Theses
    Abstract

    The once dominant view of planning as the discovery of an objective 'public good' has been challenged over the last several decades. Radical uncertainty, social diversity, technological change and popular mistrust of traditional government underlie growing calls for more open and flexible governance processes. In order to reclaim some public legitimacy for their actions, governments and public agencies have responded by creating spaces for stakeholder input to policy making.This thesis is concerned with the often uneasy interaction between stakeholders and bureaucracies in these evolving spaces. Specifically, it focuses on one model of participation that has become fairly standard in Australian planning - the delegation of bureaucratic decisions to 'community-based' committees. The enquiry described in the thesis is grounded in case studies of two such committees, both charged with developing strategic responses to land use conflicts in regional (non-metropolitan) Australia.The analysis proceeds from an institutionalist perspective, treating participatory processes not only as fora to resolve divergent opinions and values, but also as encounters between different 'cultural' frameworks, which continue to be actively constructed throughout. From this perspective, it examines the tensions arising within the case studies between cultural practices - especially between bureaucratic and other ways of working - and the discursive means through which such tensions are, or are not, resolved. It also asks whether these means might represent a form of institutional capacity building.To these ends, the enquiry employs a combination of ethnographic, sociological and linguistic methods in an approach that can broadly be called 'critical discourse analysis'. In particular, it focuses on spoken and written texts - meetings, minutes and planning reports - treating these as the realisation of institutional discourses, with potential to reproduce and/or to reconstruct established values, relations and practices.There are three main findings. First, a traditional bureaucratic rationalism continues to permeate the performance of participatory planning, in constant tension with alternative practices brought to processes by 'stakeholder' participants, which can lead to persistent miscommunication. Second, in spite of this tension, participants can find ways of working together, reaching agreement and making progress even without first resolving underlying differences. Third, committees' newly constructed 'ways of working' represent a very uneven form of institutional capacity building - they are highly context-sensitive and create their own tensions between the needs of the moment and the overall aims of the planning process. As such, they do not translate comfortably to general norms or repertoires for acting; moreover, they may not be reified in such a way as to allow their 'travel' to other planning or governance arenas.

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • From blueprint master plans to democratic planning in South Asian cities: Pursuing good governance agenda against prevalent patron-client networks
      Khan, Shahed; Swapan, Mohammad (2013)
      Despite similar rhetoric and stated policies, there are major differences in urban planning and its implementation and management between cities of developed countries and those of the developing world. These differences ...
    • Practising Governance: Multi-Party Decision Making in a Multi-Scalar Context
      MacCallum, Diana (2009)
      The much vaunted shift from ‘government’ to ‘governance’ in recent years involves (among other things) increased attention to the participation of ‘stakeholders’ in policy making, a trend affecting not only the actions ...
    • IT governance structures and their effectiveness in Australian universities
      Hicks, Michael John (2012)
      This thesis advances the understanding of information technology (IT) governance research by considering the question “How do user stakeholders influence the planning and implementation of IT governance?” IT has become ...
    Advanced search

    Browse

    Communities & CollectionsIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument TypeThis CollectionIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument Type

    My Account

    Admin

    Statistics

    Most Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors

    Follow Curtin

    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 

    CRICOS Provider Code: 00301JABN: 99 143 842 569TEQSA: PRV12158

    Copyright | Disclaimer | Privacy statement | Accessibility

    Curtin would like to pay respect to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of our community by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which the Perth campus is located, the Whadjuk people of the Nyungar Nation; and on our Kalgoorlie campus, the Wongutha people of the North-Eastern Goldfields.