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    Evaluating ethics in planning : a heuristic framework for a just city : a thesis presented for partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Resource and Environmental Planning at Massey University, Manawatū
    (Massey University, 2021) Ross, Joanna
    Many urban planners are engaged with the idea that cities should be ‘Just’: that is, planning should facilitate good outcomes for the people who choose to live and work in cities, particularly the least advantaged. The concept of a just city is an evolving planning paradigm which focuses on the needs of the least advantaged. This thesis revisits existing ideas of what constitutes a just city and explores why planners should care about the effects of ethics on its realisation. It extends conceptual understandings of what constitutes a ‘just city’, through a focus on care ethics and kindness. Then, by developing and applying the Just City Plan Evaluation Approach (JCPEA), it presents a heuristic framework to surface embedded ethics invoked in planning policy. Ethics in urban planning have not been systematically considered in practice for decades. This inattention can be partially attributed to the distancing of planners from their role as public interest advocates, the multiplicity of competing views about what ethics should or could inform planning policy, and the lack of a systematic, formal approach to evaluate them. Yet normative views of what constitutes right and wrong are central to theoretical debates about planning and are used to inform arguments for or against policy. For decades, ethics of justice have dominated these debates. However, increasing calls for virtue ethics to complement justice ethics present an opportunity for the planning profession to reimagine its role as advocates for the public interest. The JCPEA is based on a theoretical understanding of: (a) theories of justice (b) care ethics, and (c) Fainstein’s concept of the just city and her three just city principles (equity, diversity, and democracy). It enables ethical arguments in planning discourse to be evaluated against four criteria – extent, focus, merit, and power, using both political discourse analysis and a Foucauldian-type discourse analysis. The application of this dual-method approach, to a suite of planning documents from Auckland, New Zealand, proved useful in identifying and evaluating ethics and power in planning. The current intention to replace the Resource Management Act 1991, provides an opportune time to begin a conversation about ethics in plans, to focus on particular ethics, to address the silences, ruptures, and subsequent power imbalances in planning discourse, and to take steps not just towards the realisation of just city ethics and principles in practice, but also to reflect on planning more broadly. Drawing on and extending existing just city narratives, this thesis posits kindness, a practical response to the needs of others, as a principle to invoke in planning policy. This principle of kindness is grounded in an ethic of care, but also sits within an emerging post-secular and intersectional approach to address injustice. It is an ethic that was first signaled by New Zealand Prime Minister Ardern in a speech to the UN General Assembly in 2018, when she called for ‘kindness’ as a means of pursuing peace, prosperity, and fairness, and which subsequently became part of the New Zealand response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Invoking kindness represents a step-change in ethics informing government policy and was a signal to the world that there is another way of governing. It is also an ethic that lends itself to planning practice. This thesis argues that exposing and discussing the ethical basis of planning discourse using this heuristic framework provides the means to give agency to planners to act as non-neutral arbiters of the public interest, and as parrhesiastes focussing on the needs of the least advantaged.
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    How then could we live? Towards the pragmatic creation of sustainable ecological habitus in cities : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Management at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2018) Taylor, Alice Dena
    Creating ecologically sustainable ways of life is desirable, necessary, and urgent for the collective future of life on Earth. Although this is acknowledged, aspired to, and increasingly pursued in action, broad-scale sustainability remains unrealised. Western cities offer a strategic place to exemplify and accelerate global sustainability transitions. Such cities are characterised by dense human populations with excessive per capita resource use, but they can also be cornucopias of economic development, progressive politics, and diverse culture and correspondingly act at global hotspots of innovation and change. This exploratory research proposes pragmatic backcasted pathways for furthering such change, constructing future visions of more sustainable ways of life in Western cities, identifying present day barriers to realising these, and generating practical solutions ‘here and now’ that could contribute strategically to overcoming the barriers, towards a sustainable future. An insight and foresight rich distillation of evidence-based knowledge and practical experience was generated to inform these pathways, through qualitative interviews with 25 esteemed experts specialising in fields of socio-ecology and cities, including planning, design, sociology, psychology, philosophy, art, activism, economics, and government. To analyse this data and conceptualise alternative pathways, ‘ecological habitus’, an emergent socio-ecological theory, was developed and employed as a practical framework for conceptually linking broad-scale socio-ecological issues with everyday practice; analysing the inter-dependent variables (e.g. normative, material, social, and psychological) of social reproduction and change; and assessing their sustainability at different scales (e.g. individual and institutional). Two components were added to the theory: ‘natural capital’ (the ecological/biophysical factors within socio-ecological relationships), and 'ecological reflexivity’ (people’s responses to natural capital whether intentional-critical, periodic-conscious, or routine-subconscious). These enhance ecological habitus as a versatile tool for socio-ecological and sustainability-transition research. The ultimate research outcomes are three backcasted pathways towards a future of ‘sustainable ecological habitus’, which could begin pragmatically with: collaborative practice among city authorities to develop as ecologically-reflexive sustainability leaders and overcome disciplinary silos; strategic enrichment of cities with accessible, place-based natural capital to enhance human nature connection; and everyday self-, or socially-directed sustainability micro-interventions among city-dwellers, to incrementally grow mainstream sustainable ecological habitus. These actions combined could accelerate sustainable ecological habitus in Western cities and beyond. The power is ours.
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    Squatting problems in Indonesia : a research study presented to the Institute of Development Studies, Massey University, Palmerston North - New Zealand in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Philosophy
    (Massey University, 1994) Buldansyah, Mochamad Badr
    Most of urban dwellers in developing countries have been squatting too long. This is a phenomenon also characteristic of Indonesia. Big cities like Jakarta and Surabaya attract rural people who migrate because of poverty pressure in rural areas. The national development programs in Indonesia have resulted in extraordinary economic growth. However, at the same time, these development policies have created some social imbalances which in turn have lead to and maintained the squatter settlement problem in the cities. This research finds that there are some policies that can be carried out in order to reduce these problems. Possible solutions are derived from both direct and indirect actions. Direct solutions should be associated with the squatters themselves, in which the policies are aimed to improve their condition, economically and socially. Finally, indirect solutions should be addressed to rural development and specifically, the control of unoccupied land. All in all, policies should be carried out both in urban areas where the problem of squatting exists and in the rural areas, being the main source of the problem.
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    The Creative Class paradox : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2007) Parkin, Tim
    In an effort to encourage Wellington's economic growth the Wellington City Council (WCC) integrated the principles of Richard Florida's (2002) Creative Class theory into their strategic vision - Creative Wellington - Innovation Capital. This initiative influenced the WCC's resource policies with the aim of attracting and retaining creative people and innovative businesses. Within the Creative Class paradigm the value system used is predominantly economic, with creative assets and success being defined in terms of commercial gains. Consequently, the types of creative individuals, innovate businesses and physical environments that the WCC's policies prioritised were ones with high revenue earning potential. Such a restricted definition of creativity raises the question of how do Wellington's alternative forms of creativity and innovation fit into the WCC's Creative Wellington - Innovation Capital strategy? Are their contributions to be ignored and their futures compromised in the WCC's drive to attract members of the Creative Class or do they have a role to play within the Creative Class paradigm? My thesis investigates these questions by critiquing the WCC's implementation of the Creative Class theory. I also investigate the impact that the WCC's actions have had on Te Aro, a suburb on the outer edge of Wellington's central business district that is home to a diverse array of creative practices and small innovative businesses. Through this investigation I discover parallels between Te Aro's unique characteristics and the criteria Florida argued as being necessary to attract the Creative Class. I argue that for this reason Te Aro, and the forms of creativity and innovation that it supports, meets the value and lifestyle needs of the Creative Class and are therefore assets in the WCC's Creative Wellington - Innovation Capital strategy. My thesis concludes by using these findings in a graphic design led strategy that seeks to enhance Wellington's unique creative dynamic by broadening both the community and Council's concept of capital, assets and success.