Robin Rothfeder
PhD Student, University of Utah
ACSP, Houston
10/24/2015
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)
Context
Humans are the primary drivers of fundamental
changes to Earth processes
(IPCC, 2007; Sayre et al., 2013)
Context
More than half of the global human population lives
in cities
(United Nations, 2013)
Context
The 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
A system of interdependent,
interconnected challenges and
opportunities
(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)
Literature
Gap
Planning
Theory
Ecological
Planning
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)
Literature
Ecological
Planning
“yet to develop a strong
theoretical basis for addressing
matters of power, conflict,
contradiction and culture”
(Wilkinson, 2011, p. 149)
Literature
Elements/tasks of planning theory:
Allmendinger (2002), Friedmann (2008)
Planning
Theory
“the ecological crisis… is still
surprisingly absent in work of
planning theorists” (Harrison,
2014, p. 77)
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)
Understanding history, values,
culture, and power in the context
of linked social-ecological systems
and the global ecological crisis
Planning
Theory
“the ecological crisis… is still
surprisingly absent in work of
planning theorists” (Harrison,
2014, p. 77)
Literature
Gap
Ecological
Planning
“yet to develop a strong
theoretical basis for addressing
matters of power, conflict,
contradiction and culture”
(Wilkinson, 2011, p. 149)
• Two-directional (intersectional)
• Empirically verifiable: subject
matter and leading authors
• Interdisciplinary
Planning
Theory
“the ecological crisis… is still
surprisingly absent in work of
planning theorists” (Harrison,
2014, p. 77)
Literature
Gap
Ecological
Planning
“yet to develop a strong
theoretical basis for addressing
matters of power, conflict,
contradiction and culture”
(Wilkinson, 2011, p. 149)
Conceptual Framework
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
1) Task of Adaptation: Recognizing and responding to
“real-world constraints with regard to scale, complexity,
and time”
2) Task of Translation: taking ideas and knowledge from
outside of planning and making them “accessible and
useful for planning and its practices”
PT
EP
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
PT
EP
Environmental Humanities
Worldviews
“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).
Ethics
Behaviors
PT
EP
Environmental Humanities
Worldviews
Ethics
Behaviors
Ontology – “the structure of
being”
Epistemology – “the structure
of knowledge and method”
(Norgaard, 1994)
“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)
“Bodily motions that affect
production and
reproduction” (Merchant,
2005, p. 64)
Multi-scalar:
Societal/Cultural
Institutional
Individual
(Devall and Sessions, 1985)
“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)
PT
EP
Environmental Humanities
Worldviews
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. 4748).
Ethics
Traditional: Equates marginalized
human populations with ‘nature’
and grants both only an
instrumental value
Behaviors
Traditional: “Manipulation,
exploitation, and domination”
of marginalized entities (both
human and nonhuman)
(Merchant, 2005, p. 41)
“A framework of values based on
power and control” (Merchant,
2005, p. 53)
PT
EP
Environmental Humanities
Worldviews
Traditional: Enlightenment-era
framework based on order,
predictability, and ‘rationality’
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Ethics
Traditional: Equates marginalized
human populations with ‘nature’
and grants both only an
instrumental value
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)
Behaviors
Traditional: “Manipulation,
exploitation, and domination”
of marginalized entities (both
human and nonhuman)
(Merchant, 2005, p. 41)
PT
EP
Environmental Humanities
Worldviews
Alternative: A framework based on the
‘intrinsically radical’ principles of ecology
Holistic
Non-linear
Subjective
Dynamic
(Merchant, 1980, 2005; Macy, 1991;
Norgaard, 1994)
Ethics
Alternative: Interconnected
biosphere extends value and
consideration to marginalized
and disempowered entities
Behaviors
Alternative: Interconnected
biosphere demands mutuality,
partnership, humility, respect,
and care
PT
EP
Environmental Humanities
Worldviews
Alternative: A framework based on the
‘intrinsically radical’ principles of ecology
• 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)
Behaviors
Ethics
Alternative: Interconnected
biosphere extends value and
consideration to marginalized
and disempowered entities
Traditional: Interconnected
biosphere demands mutuality,
partnership, humility, respect,
and care
• 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)
PT
EP
“The land ethic
simply enlarges the
boundaries of the
community to include
soils, waters, plants,
and animals, or
collectively: the land”
Environmental Humanities
Worldviews
Alternative: A framework based on the
‘intrinsically radical’ principles of ecology
Ethics
Alternative: Interconnected
biosphere extends value and
consideration to marginalized
and disempowered entities
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)
Behaviors
Alternative: Interconnected
biosphere demands mutuality,
partnership, humility, respect,
and care
PT
EP
Questions
What 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 Humanities
PT
EP
Conclusions
The ‘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
PT
EP
Conclusions
Calls 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
PT
EP
Literature Gap: Subject Matter
Landscape Planning
Landscape
Planning
and Urban Theory and
JPER
Journal
Theory
Planning
Practice
Search Term
ecol* (all fields)
310
per issue
4.697
ecol* (abstracts)
per issue
ecological planning (all fields)
per issue
"ecological planning" (all fields)
per issue
ethic* (all fields)
per issue
ethic* (abstracts)
per issue
epistem* (all fields)
per issue
ontolog* (all fields)
per issue
2,253
4.694
64
0.970
665
217
0.364
2.106
0.167
0.424
19
0.365
60
1.000
14
0.029
2.923
0.100
0.085
152
6
41
11
0.000
2.133
0.046
0
128
22
28
0.000
0.050
0.579
0
3
278
11
0.019
1.983
0.242
1
119
116
139
1.865
0.100
4.219
97
6
2,025
24
0.167
2.833
1.385
3.288
170
108
2.077
28
0.467
76
1.462
396
0.853
14
0.030
13
0.028
8
0.017
383
0.825
27
0.058
148
0.319
38
0.082
JAPA
598
5.155
36
0.310
405
3.491
9
0.078
295
2.543
17
0.147
25
0.216
7
0.060
Literature Gap: Ecological Planners
Search Term
Landscape
Planning
Planning
and Urban Theory and
Theory
Planning
Practice
Landscape
Journal
Steiner
52
per issue
0.788
Pickett
113
0.235
8
per issue
0.121
Ahern
0.413
0.197
Spirn
0.758
Ellin
0.067
per issue
0.030
0.000
0.002
0.067
2
0.017
9
0.019
1
0.019
0.017
0.006
0.019
2
3
1
4
0.216
0.002
0.019
25
1
1
0
1
0.009
0.019
0.017
JAPA
4
1
1
32
2
0.038
0.033
0.267
2
2
128
50
per issue
0.000
198
13
per issue
0
JPER
6
0.052
8
0.017
4
0.034
Literature Gap: Planning Theorists
Landscape
Landscape
and Urban
Journal
Planning
Search Term
Flyvbjerg
3
per issue
0.045
Healey
5
0.010
5
per issue
0.076
Yiftachel
0.030
Friedmann
per issue
Allmendinger
per issue
0.000
0.121
0.015
1.050
0.002
0.633
9
0.078
197
0.425
78
1.500
0.388
0.103
1.750
45
48
91
38
0.216
0.384
1.288
25
178
67
63
1
0.140
3.019
0.667
JAPA
65
157
40
7
0
1.442
3.233
JPER
75
194
0
8
0.000
0.917
0.035
Planning
Theory
55
17
2
per issue
Planning
Theory and
Practice
148
1.276
22
0.047
3
0.026
Environmental Humanities
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
Environmental Humanities
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
Environmental Humanities
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
Background
Environmental Science
Environmental Economics
Environmental Humanities