Bonnie J. Johnson

Promoting Sustainability through Transportation Infrastructure? Innovation and Inertia in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area

City engineers and planners have a critical role to play in the advancement of sustainable transportation systems at the local level. Practices that promote water quality and/or public health through transportation infrastructure are two central components of this role. Yet, little is known about the decision processes local governments use to adopt these sorts of new practices. This study explores innovations related to sustainable transportation systems using the Kansas City, Missouri, metropolitan area. Interviews with engineers and planners reveal that the automobile still dominates planning and decision making. However, when water quality or public health goals come to the fore, important decision factors include the relative advantage and observability of the strategies themselves, leadership of elected officials and public works directors, perceptions of funding levels, educational opportunities provided by professional organizations, and federal mandates.

Social Capital and Emergency Management Planning: A Test of Community Context Effects on Formal and Informal Collaboration

Using a sample of U.S. counties, this article explores the relationships between community level resilience, represented by capacity (social capital), information (uses of technology), and motivation (perception of threats to county,) on the one hand, and county levels of emergency management (EM) collaboration on the other. We hypothesize that the greater relative presence of bridging social capital networks will be associated with greater levels of collaboration in county EM planning, while the greater relative presence of bonding social capital networks will be associated with lower levels of collaboration. Results indicate that first there are two collaborative environments to assess—the formal and informal—and, second, the presence of political networks (seen as predominantly bridging) relative to the presence of religious networks (viewed as predominantly bonding) has a significant and positive effect on informal collaboration levels, but not on formal collaboration levels. These findings provide insight into how community context in the form of network social capital matters for collaborative EM planning efforts. These results add to prior research that focuses primarily on organizational and institutional sources of collaboration and much less on the community level contextual factors at play.

Potential and Challenges for Social Media in the Neighborhood Context

Abstract Many studies have focused on new medias role in connecting interest-based communities across vast geographic distances; fewer studies have examined how viable social media is as a communication tool within the neighborhood context. This study investigates the ways in which established modes of place-based neighborhood association, connection, and communication coincide or conflict with the perceived affordances of connection and association available in social networking sites. As a case study, we identified a neighborhood association that had seen its participation rates dwindle. The associations steering committee decided to turn to popular social media platforms (Facebook and Twitter) to revitalize. After the initial launch, they garnered only five “likes,” three Twitter followers, and two members for the e-mail listserv out of a possible 550 households. A survey of neighborhood residents showed some potential for social media use but also significant mismatches between the perceived affordances of social media and residents’ understanding of the place-based context and condition of the neighborhood. We found three main categories where perceptions and expectations of neighborhood communication did not mesh with social media affordances: perceived intimacy within the neighborhood; desired attributes of neighborhood communication; and expectations of digital and physical space and place.

Public Service Motivation and the Technical, Political, and Facilitator Roles of City Planners

Using a survey of planners in the United States, this study examines their roles (technical, political, and facilitator) in relation to public service motivation and determining the public interest. Regression analyses show different components of public service motivation associated with the facilitator and technician roles but not the political role. Also of significance were gender, age, professionalism, organizations, and population. Other results indicate planners favoring citizens over elected officials in deciding the public interest. This study highlights how planners and public administrators may differ on public service and reveals the struggle planners face in reconciling their roles within public organizations.

Can Social Media Save a Neighborhood Organization

Positive discourse around social media and civic engagement inspired a neighborhood association with few members and resources to use these services. They hoped to revive the neighborhood association and attract new and younger members. They received five Facebook ‘likes’ and three Twitter followers out of 550 households. Survey results revealed a mismatch between perceptions of ‘neighborly’ and social media ties and expectations for neighborhood communication. However, residents most interested in the neighborhood association were those who chose social media for neighborhood outreach, not those choosing email or postal mail. Ultimately, using multiple communication methods is ideal, but targeting residents via social media might be a starting point for planners and resource poor organizations.

Glass Walls in Urban Planning: An Examination of Policy Type and Gender Segregation Within a Profession

“Glass walls,” or patterns of male/female segregation by job type, have been found in federal, state, and local government employment. Research shows women are more often employed in government agencies that deal in redistributive policies, such as housing, but less commonly in either regulatory (enforcement) or distributive (public works) agencies. The authors question whether the same patterns go beyond government jobs to influence a profession closely tied to government, namely, urban planning. Based on this study, the good news is the almost total lack of glass walls in planning’s private sector, but there is still room for progress in the public sector, namely, in transportation, management, infrastructure, and law. Examining this phenomenon is important because the planning profession values equality, fairness, and social justice, particularly in public policy.

Social Capital and Longitudinal Change in Sustainability Plans and Policies: U.S. Cities from 2000 to 2010

This study examines changes from 2000 to 2010 in the adoption of sustainability plans and policies in a sample of U.S. cities. The study’s framework posits sustainability initiatives as communitarian outcomes intended to meet the needs of both current and future generations. We hypothesize, accordingly, that a community’s social capital level, in the form of the relative presence of social trust, is a primary facilitating condition for the adoption of sustainability initiatives. The analysis assesses whether trust-based social capital is similarly associated with the adoption of plans and policies at both time points (2000 and 2010), as well as whether social capital is associated with change in the adoption levels documented across the ten-year period. The paper concludes by suggesting that the effect of social capital is substantially reduced in 2010 as a consequence of institutional network dynamics featured in the theory of isomorphic change.

Keeping It Real

Problem: It is easier than ever to reach out to the public, but as communication channels proliferate, it becomes difficult to compete for peoples attention. Also, it seems as though fantasy and spectacle (even in news coverage) have the best chances of capturing an audience. Can planners create what Duncombe (2007) calls “ethical spectacles,” where planning projects get noticed, but still gain substantive public input? Purpose: Currently, reality television shows are the masters of “spectacle” and viewer participation. This article uses the reality TV formula to critique a televised planning event sponsored by the council of governments for the Greater Kansas City region. The model for successful reality TV offers strategies for improving televised planning processes by making these programs more dynamic and interactive. The reality TV formula includes the following: real people, uncontrolled situations, immediacy and intimacy, an emphasis on conflict in which participants balance individual and community needs, an observational style, a “confessional space,” editing to create an entertaining package, and interactive elements (voting, texting by home viewers). Methods: The study uses genre criticism to compare and contrast the Imagine KC televised town meeting with the successful reality TV formula. Results and conclusions: Planners can use reality TV to create “ethical spectacles” and more effectively draw attention to planning issues while creating two-way dialogues with the public. Duncombes (2007) ethical spectacles are directly democratic, fostering community while allowing for diversity. They also take up real issues but explore alternate futures. These are all familiar to planners who have used more typical public participation techniques (e.g., surveys, charrettes) while adhering to the American Institute of Certified Planners’ code of ethics. Takeaway for practice: While reality TV offers planners strategies for creating compelling televised public participation programming, reality TV is not without its faults. Planners should avoid the exploitative manner in which reality TV producers regard the participants, as well as its manipulative style and aesthetic of humiliation, which emphasizes drama and conflict over documentary realism and ethical considerations. If planners are going to use the medium of television, the reality TV formula provides an attractive option for those seeking to inform and interact with a large, diverse audience. Research support: None.

What do the professions ‘profess’? Comparing architecture and planning codes of ethics

ABSTRACT Using concepts from the sociology of professions and institutional theory, we explore the ethical dispositions of the planning and architecture professions over time. We use the relevant codes from their major professional organizations (American Institute of Architects (AIA)) and American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP)) to track what the professions have ‘professed’ from the 1940s to today. They converge in the 1970s over women’s rights, racial inequalities, the environmental movement, and historic preservation. They diverge as planning becomes process-oriented, concentrating on democratic values, long-range thinking, and citizen engagement, while architecture continues its focus on specific projects and the physical environment. There was a time of brief overlap in the professions when AIA codes started mentioning planning and policy matters in its remit, but those themes did not last. The professions could be headed for a clash or a collaboration as the current AICP code now mentions design, which has historically fallen within the AIA’s purview.

Social, creative, human, and political capital effects on sustainability initiatives in Kansas counties: a research note

In a small sample effects analysis of 22 Kansas counties, this research note reports the results of a pilot study of the role of social, creative, human, and political capital in the centrality of environmental and equity concerns in sustainability efforts. Social capital is measured by the relative presence of rent-seeking and non-rent-seeking networks in each county, creative capital by a measure of county creative vitality, human capital by the socio-economic status (SES) level of the county, and political capital by relative support for the Democrat candidate for governor in the most recent election. The level of racial/ethnic diversity and the Gini index of household income inequality are employed as controls. The results show that political capital has the greatest, but not the only, independent effect on the centrality of the two sustainability dimensions, particularly in regard to equity.