Ecological Planning Theory Robin Rothfeder Ph D Student

Ecological, Planning, Theory Robin Rothfeder Ph. D 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), Mc. Harg (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 “A framework of values based on power and control” (Merchant, 2005, p. 53) Behaviors Traditional: “Manipulation, exploitation, and domination” of marginalized entities (both human and nonhuman) (Merchant, 2005, p. 41) 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 1 st 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

Thank You! Robin Rothfeder r. rothfeder@utah. edu

Literature Gap: Subject Matter 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* (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 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. 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. 009 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 Search Term Landscape Planning Landscape and Urban Theory and Journal Planning Practice Flyvbjerg 3 per issue 0. 045 Healey 5 0. 010 5 per issue 0. 076 Yiftachel 17 2 per issue 0. 030 Friedmann per issue Allmendinger per issue 8 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 0. 000 194 0 JPER 75 1. 442 3. 233 0. 000 0. 121 55 0. 917 0. 035 Planning Theory 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