robin rothfeder phd student, university of utah acsp, houston 10/24/2015

Ecological,

Planning, Theory

Robin RothfederPhD Student, University of UtahACSP, Houston10/24/2015

Outline• Questions• Context• Literature gap• Filling the gap• Conclusions

Questions

What does it mean to ‘ecologize’ planning theory?

How do we do it?

Seed of an Answer

“The principles of ecological science… are principles of intrinsically radical social import” (Hay, 2002, p. 131)

ContextHumans are the primary drivers of fundamental changes to Earth processes (IPCC, 2007; Sayre et al., 2013)

ContextMore than half of the global human population lives in cities (United Nations, 2013)

ContextThe traditional dichotomy between built environments and natural environments is breaking down• Human well-being• Social justice• Urban form• Economic stability• Natural resource use • Environmental quality • Ecosystem health

(Merchant, 1980; Spirn, 1984; Norgaard, 1994; Van der Ryn and Cowan, 1996; Beatley, 2000; Ewing et al., 2002; Alberti et al., 2003; Pickett et al., 2004, 2013)

A system of interdependent, interconnected challenges and opportunities

Planning Theory

Ecological Planning

Literature Gap

Ecological Planning

Literature

Historical threads: • Olmsted (1879), Howard (1898), Geddes

(1915), Jacobs (1961, 2000), Mumford (1968, 1971), McHarg (1969), Glikson (1971), Spirn (1984)

Modern proliferation:• Urbanism (Beatley, 2000; Mostafavi and

Doherty, 2010; Spirn, 2011)• Planning (Ndubisi, 2002; Steiner, 2008)• Design (Van der Ryn and Cowan, 1996,

2006; Steiner et al., 2013)• Landscape Studies (Leitao and Ahern,

2002; von Haaren, 2014)• Urban Ecology (Felson et al., 2013;

Childers et al., 2014)

“yet to develop a strong theoretical basis for addressing matters of power, conflict, contradiction and culture” (Wilkinson, 2011, p. 149)

Planning Theory

LiteratureElements/tasks of planning theory:

Allmendinger (2002), Friedmann (2008)

The ‘dark side’ of planning/modernity: Yiftachel (1998), Flyvbjerg and Richardson (2002)

Communicative and collaborative rationality: Innes and Booher (2000, 2003, 2010), Healey (1992, 2010, 2012)

Calls for “substantive,” “realist” planning theory: Beauregard (1990), Yiftachel (1999, 2006), Hillier (2005), Rydin (2007), Healey (2012), Wilkinson (2012), Harrison (2014)

“the ecological crisis… is still surprisingly absent in work of planning theorists” (Harrison, 2014, p. 77)

Planning Theory

Ecological Planning

Literature Gap



Understanding history, values, culture, and power in the context of linked social-ecological systems

and the global ecological crisis

Planning Theory

Ecological Planning



Literature Gap

• Two-directional (intersectional)• Empirically verifiable: subject

matter and leading authors• Interdisciplinary

Friedmann’s 3 tasks for planning theory (2008)

1)Philosophical Task: Rigorously addressing the values that detract from, or add to, the “continued sustenance and flourishing” of humans and the natural environment

2)Task of Adaptation: Recognizing and responding to “real-world constraints with regard to scale, complexity, and time”

3)Task of Translation: taking ideas and knowledge from outside of planning and making them “accessible and useful for planning and its practices”

Conceptual Framework

EPPT

Environmental Ethics“Environmental ethics should be a legitimate and necessary component of planning theory…

… virtually all facets of planning, whether economic development, growth management, housing, or transportation, have direct impacts on the natural environment.”

Beatley, 1989

EPPT

Environmental Humanities

“A set of propositions (assumptions which may be

true, partially true, or entirely false) that we hold

(consciously or unconsciously, consistently or inconsistently) about the basic constitution of reality, and that provides the foundation on which we live and move and have our

being (Sire, 2009, p. 20).

Worldviews Ethics Behaviors

EPPT


Ontology – “the structure of being”

Epistemology – “the structure of knowledge and method”

(Norgaard, 1994)

Multi-scalar: Societal/Cultural

InstitutionalIndividual

(Devall and Sessions, 1985)


“The foundation of our everyday norms or values (‘the way the world ought to be’ and ‘what we ought to do’)” (Richardson, 2005,

p. 345)

“Translate thought into action, worldviews into movements… can override social changes and maintain existing social

hegemony or be undermined, weakened, and transformed by social change and

social movements” (Merchant, 2005, p. 64)

“Bodily motions that affect production and

reproduction” (Merchant, 2005, p. 64)

EPPT


Traditional: Enlightenment-era framework based on order,

predictability, and ‘rationality’

“Has permeated and reconstructed human consciousness so totally that

today we scarcely question its validity… (setting) guidelines for decision-making

in technology, industry, and government” (Merchant, 2005, pp. 47-

48).


Traditional: Equates marginalized human populations with ‘nature’

and grants both only an instrumental value

“A framework of values based on power and control” (Merchant,

2005, p. 53)

Traditional: “Manipulation, exploitation, and domination” of marginalized entities (both

human and nonhuman) (Merchant, 2005, p. 41)

EPPT


Traditional: Enlightenment-era framework based on order,

predictability, and ‘rationality’


Traditional: Equates marginalized human populations with ‘nature’

and grants both only an instrumental value

Traditional: “Manipulation, exploitation, and domination” of marginalized entities (both

human and nonhuman) (Merchant, 2005, p. 41)

EPPT

• 1st generation critical theorists (Horkheimer and Adorno, 1944; Leiss, 1972)• Ecofeminists (Merchant, 1980, 2005; Plumwood, 1993)• Environmental philosophers (Naess, 1973; Devall and Sessions, 1985)• Ecopsychologists (Roszak, 1992; Fisher, 2002)• Social ecologists (e.g. Bookchin, 2009)• Ecological economists (Norgaard, 1994; Costanza et al., 2002)• Physicists (Capra, 1995)


Alternative: A framework based on the ‘intrinsically radical’ principles of ecology

HolisticNon-linearSubjectiveDynamic

(Merchant, 1980, 2005; Macy, 1991; Norgaard, 1994)


Alternative: Interconnected biosphere extends value and consideration to marginalized

and disempowered entities

Alternative: Interconnected biosphere demands mutuality, partnership, humility, respect,

and care

EPPT






Traditional: Interconnected biosphere demands mutuality, partnership, humility, respect,

and care

EPPT

• Ecological conscience (Leopold, 1949)• Ecology of mind (Bateson, 1972)• Deep ecology (Naess, 1973; Devall and

Sessions, 1985)• Transpersonal ecology (Fox, 1990)• Ecological literacy (Callicott, 1993)

• Ecological economics (Norgaard, 1994)• Ecological worldview (Goldsmith, 1998)• New ecological paradigm (Dunlap et al.,

2000)• Ecological impulse (Hay, 2002)• Radical ecology, (2005)• Social ecology (Bookchin, 2009)

“The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land”






Alternative: Interconnected biosphere demands mutuality, partnership, humility, respect,

and care

EPPT

Dunlap and Van Liere (1978), Dunlap et al. (2000), Schultz et al. (2000), Stern, (2000), Kortenkamp and Moore (2001), Nordlund and Garvill (2002), Mayer and Frantz (2004), Stern and Dietz (2004), Rothfeder et al. (2009)

QuestionsWhat does it mean to ‘ecologize’ planning theory?• Understand critical environmental history• Understand ‘radical’ social implications of ecology

How do we do it?• Translational approach, incorporating rigorous theory

from the Environmental HumanitiesEPPT

EPPT

ConclusionsThe ‘dark side’ of planning (and modernity)• EH brings critical environmental history based on

rationality and power, specific to linked social-ecological systems and the global ecological crisis

Communicative and collaborative rationality• Dovetails with the transformative narrative of EH, with

added understanding of ecology as a radical social tradition that forms a basis for constructive action

EPPT

ConclusionsCalls for ‘substantive,’ ‘realist’ planning theory• EH brings theory that recognizes epistemological subjectivity

but is rooted in the biophysical reality of ecological crisis

Tasks for planning theory• EH performs the philosophical task for a field that is

primarily applied and practice-based• EH performs the task of adaptation for a field working to

more directly address ecosystem functioning and the ecological crisis• EH offers a translational theory base

Thank You!

Robin Rothfederr.rothfeder@utah.

edu

Literature Gap: Subject MatterSearch Term Landscape

JournalLandscape and Urban Planning

Planning Theory and

PracticePlanning Theory JPER JAPA

ecol* (all fields) 310 2,253 170 97 396 598per issue 4.697 4.694 2.833 1.865 0.853 5.155

ecol* (abstracts) 64 665 6 1 14 36per issue 0.970 1.385 0.100 0.019 0.030 0.310

ecological planning (all fields) 217 2,025 119 0 13 405per issue 3.288 4.219 1.983 0.000 0.028 3.491

"ecological planning" (all fields) 24 116 3 0 8 9per issue 0.364 0.242 0.050 0.000 0.017 0.078

ethic* (all fields) 139 278 128 152 383 295per issue 2.106 0.579 2.133 2.923 0.825 2.543

ethic* (abstracts) 11 22 6 19 27 17per issue 0.167 0.046 0.100 0.365 0.058 0.147

epistem* (all fields) 28 41 60 108 148 25per issue 0.424 0.085 1.000 2.077 0.319 0.216

ontolog* (all fields) 11 14 28 76 38 7per issue 0.167 0.029 0.467 1.462 0.082 0.060

Literature Gap: Ecological Planners

Search Term Landscape Journal

Landscape and Urban Planning

Planning Theory and


Steiner 52 113 0 2 4 25per issue 0.788 0.235 0.000 0.038 0.009 0.216

Pickett 8 198 2 1 1 2per issue 0.121 0.413 0.033 0.019 0.002 0.017

Ahern 13 128 1 1 3 2per issue 0.197 0.267 0.017 0.019 0.006 0.017

Spirn 50 32 0 1 9 6per issue 0.758 0.067 0.000 0.019 0.019 0.052

Ellin 2 1 4 1 8 4per issue 0.030 0.002 0.067 0.019 0.017 0.034

Literature Gap: Planning Theorists

Search Term Landscape Journal

Landscape and Urban Planning

Planning Theory and


Flyvbjerg 3 5 55 75 65 25per issue 0.045 0.010 0.917 1.442 0.140 0.216

Healey 5 17 194 157 178 45per issue 0.076 0.035 3.233 3.019 0.384 0.388

Yiftachel 2 0 40 67 48 9per issue 0.030 0.000 0.667 1.288 0.103 0.078

Friedmann 8 7 63 91 197 148per issue 0.121 0.015 1.050 1.750 0.425 1.276

Allmendinger 0 1 38 78 22 3per issue 0.000 0.002 0.633 1.500 0.047 0.026

A narrative of history, power, and culture, specific to linked social-ecological systems and explaining the roots of the global ecological crisis

A centuries-old worldview that devalues and subjugates both marginalized human groups and the natural world

Horkhimer and Adorno, 1944; Leiss, 1972; Naess, 1973; Devall and Sessions, 1985; Merchant, 1980; Norgaard, 1994; Roszak, 1992; Fisher, 2002; Bookchin, 2009


An alternate narrative rooted in the “intrinsically radical” cultural implications of ecology (Hay, 20002)

A worldview that promotes mutuality, humility, respect, and care

Leopold, 1949; Bateson, 1972; Fox, 1990; Callicott, 1993; Norgaard, 1994; Goldsmith, 1998; Dunlap et al., 2000; Hay, 2002; Merchant, 2005


A framework for linking worldviews (epistemologies and ontologies), ethics, and actions

Understanding “the transactions and interrelationships between people and their physical surroundings… (including) built and natural environments, the use and abuse of nature and natural resources, and sustainability-related behavior” (Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2014)

Dunlap and Van Liere, 1978; Dunlap et al., 2000; Schultz et al., 2000; Stern, 2000; Kortenkamp and Moore, 2001; Nordlund and Garvill, 2002


BackgroundEnvironmental Science

Environmental Economics


robin rothfeder phd student, university of utah acsp, houston 10/24/2015

Documents