Yvonne Rydin

Can We Talk Ourselves into Sustainability? The Role of Discourse in the Environmental Policy Process

There has been a recent expansion of work within a variety of theoretical frameworks which looks at the role of discourses in policy and politics, much of it focused on environmental issues. Within this there is a particular category of polemical material which argues for discourse management and for managing discourse between actors towards achieving a particular goal, such as sustainable development. The paper examines the different ways in which the significance of environmental discourse is recognised and its influence analysed. It critically examines the claims made for normative discourse management and highlights the need to consider carefully the institutions through which environmental policy discourse is mediated.

Institutions and indicators – The discourse about indicators in the context of sustainability

In order to implement policies towardssustainable development indicators are widelydiscussed to promote action in this direction.In addition, in many strategic documents onsustainable development (e.g., EU documents) theimportance of the development and use ofindicators is pointed out. In this contextindicators are meant to be used to supportpolitical decision making as well as toevaluate measurements towards sustainabledevelopment. In this article the developmentand use of indicators is questioned consideringtheir contextualisation and, hence, theirrelationship to existing institutions.Incorporating some of the main results from ananalysis of a regeneration programme in theLondon Borough of Southwark and from theanalysis of the Climate Protection Programme inthe city of Vienna, which are two of the casestudies examined during an EU funded projectcalled PASTILLE (Promoting Action forSustainability through Indicators at the LocalLevel in Europe), indicators are seen asdynamic sites of conflict and co-operationbetween policy actors. Different groups ofactors have diverse expectations or objectionsto this instrument. Indicators are, forexample, tools to augment transparency.Concerning certain institutional traditionsthis characteristic could explain opposition tothem.Indicators are meant to be another opportunityfor shaping the network of relationships,forging new relationships or reinforcing oldones. They are perceived as a means by whichactors seek to exercise power, retain statusand strive towards policy goals. The stabilityand fluidity of existing structures ofgovernance will, therefore, be central factorsin determining the history and future ofindicators promoting actions towardssustainable development. To put it differently,the central question of our paper is how thenature of institutions of governance is shapingthe use and development of indicators.

Incorporating sustainable development concerns into an urban regeneration project: how politics can defeat procedures

It is often thought that new procedural arrangements can help embed sustainable development as a policy goal into policy practice. This is the hope of tools such as environmental assessment, sustainability audits and sustainability indicators. Using a case study of urban regeneration in the London Borough of Southwark, this paper critically examines these claims. It shows how sustainable development was sidelined as a policy goal during the evaluation of the Master Plan for the area, the appraisal of individual projects for funding under the Single Regeneration Budget and the development of two local sustainability indicator projects. In each case the local political circumstances were key factors in shaping policy practice and outcomes. This leads to a re-evaluation of such procedural policy tools, emphasizing the importance of local governance contexts.

Conflicting discourses of knowledge: understanding the policy adoption of pro-burning knowledge claims in Cape York Peninsula, Australia’

Abstract Using as a case study the dominant pro-burning policy paradigm in Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia, this article examines how knowledge claims become adopted in environmental policy. Stakeholder views in Cape York are polarised between pro and anti discourses regarding anthropogenic burning, each with their own contested knowledge claims. This article carries out a discourse analysis of stakeholder views on the use of fire and enhances this with detailed stakeholder consultation and policy analysis. Through this it demonstrates how an examination of the discursive nature of the conflicts and alliances among different knowledge-holders within an environmental policy debate can provide a powerful heuristic approach to fully understanding how contested knowledge claims become accredited and established in policy.

The Enabling Local State and Urban Development: Resources, Rhetoric and Planning in East London

Current literature on the new urban governance highlights the changes in patterns of relationships between actors at the local level, but also emphasises the continuing or even increasing importance of central government; in urban policy in particular there has been notable centralisation. Using a case study of urban regeneration within the Thames Gateway area of London, the paper examines the locus of power in the relationships between central and local government and the key economic interests; this allows a reappraisal of the claims of the local authority to be enabling development. The paper then turns to the language of enabling as found in policy and academic literature and argues both that changes in the language of policy have been distinctive and that this is actively contributing to the new urban governance. This analysis is grounded in a framework for considering the relationship of language to the policy process, proposing a rhetorical methodology of policy discourse analysis.

Land Use Planning and Environmental Capacity: Reassessing the Use of Regulatory Policy Tools to Achieve Sustainable Development

Just as it is now widely accepted that the planning system has a role to play in achieving sustainable development, so the concept of environmental capacity has achieved increasing prominence as a means of realizing that role. This paper considers the debate on the concept of environmental capacity, reviewing both the mainstream model and Jacobs more nuanced social constructionist model. In doing so, it raises concerns about the appropriateness of regulatory policy tools and the implications for the distribution of environmental and other impacts. The discussion highlights the potential for using the planning system to promote change rather than resist it. In doing so, it suggests the need to consider a wider range of policy tools to achieve change at the local level and to clarify the dimensions of sustainable development that local planning can contribute to.

‘Environment’ and Planning: A Tale of the Mundane and the Sublime

This paper contributes to the growing body of work on planning discourse. In the context of the current ‘greening’ of British land-use planning, it poses the question: “How is the term ‘environment’ articulated within planning discourse?” With the use of material from development plans and development-control decision letters, an analysis is made of the term ‘environment’ which distinguishes ‘mundane’ and ‘sublime’ interpretations. The function of the texts analysed is then related to the dominant meaning given to the term, This raises further questions concerning the current preoccupation with using the land-use planning system to implement environmental policy and identifies the problems of moving between strategic planning and detailed development-control levels, a problem reflected in and compounded by the distinct operation of planning discourse at the two levels.

Business Privilege and the Strategic Planning Agenda of the Greater London Authority

The establishment of the Greater London Authority (GLA) in 2000 brought a new form of politics to London and new powers to formulate strategic policy. Through an investigation of the access of business interests in the formulation of Londons strategic agenda, this article illuminates one aspect of the pressures on city government. It uses the urban regime approach as a framework for analysing the co-operation between the Mayor and business interests in shaping strategic priorities. Although there was a surrounding rhetoric that pointed towards a greater consensus-seeking approach, the business sector was very active in maintaining its privileged access. Strategic priorities were established in the GLAs first year and were then subsequently embodied in the London Plan. Our analysis is based on a detailed examination of this agenda-setting period using material from meetings, written reports and interviews with key actors.

Environmental dimensions of residential development and the implications for local planning practice

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to provide an account of the many dimensions of environmental assessment of residential development, so that planning policy may take substantive steps towards the environmental goal of sustainability in an urban context. It proceeds largely by literature review, drawing together research findings from a wide variety of sources originating in many different disciplines. The conclusion summarizes the analysis in terms of concrete suggestions for revised planning practice, emphasizing the important role that planning can play in this area as well as the constraints placed on planning by economic considerations.

‘Managing Urban Air Quality’: Language and Rational Choice in Metropolitan Governance

The author examines the contributions of linguistic analysis and rational choice analysis to understanding the urban policy process, with the aid of the issue of air-quality management and a specific case study of metropolitan London. She argues that these theories can complement each other in providing empirically grounded analyses at the urban level. By means of the rational choice approach, she considers the choice situation facing local and central government in dealing with urban air pollution. However, forestalling some central criticisms made of the rational choice approach, she also considers the way in which the problem of urban air quality is constructed and the rhetorical structure of the policy solutions that can be discussed. It is shown how the constrained-choice situation of key policy actors meshes with the construction of the problem as one of urban air-quality management and the preferred policy solution of enhanced monitoring. This is characterised as diversionary and symbolic policy action which devolves much policy responsibility to the level of the individual—a potentially contradictory strategy for government.