IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirb/v31y2004i2p311-324.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

In Pursuit of Sustainability? Challenges for Deliberative Democracy in a Tasmanian Local Government

Author

Listed:
  • Elaine Stratford
  • Martina Jaskolski

Abstract

Sustainability may be viewed as a principled form of conduct. Among its effects is a growing emphasis on civil society and local governance through which the members of communities are encouraged to rethink democratic ideas and practices, and reconfigure how to live. Although normative, sustainability cannot properly be conceived as prescriptive; such a characteristic would undermine central elements of it, such as participation and equity. In this sense, requiring both mechanisms for community participation in decisionmaking and planning, and an ethic of engagement based on trust, reciprocity, and an acceptance of the rights of noncitizens and nonhuman nature, sustainability might also be construed as a deliberative form of democratic governance. Perhaps problematically, in the last decade this governmental aspect of sustainability has come to be associated with the procedures of communicative rationality. Supported by research conducted over three years in a local government in Tasmania, Australia, we argue that a deliberative and democratic praxis of sustainability may be effective only if and when underpinned by substantive changes to the exercise of power and leadership, and to the ways in which deliberative decisionmaking and planning are pursued. Communicative rationality alone is unlikely to achieve these ends.

Suggested Citation

  • Elaine Stratford & Martina Jaskolski, 2004. "In Pursuit of Sustainability? Challenges for Deliberative Democracy in a Tasmanian Local Government," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 31(2), pages 311-324, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:31:y:2004:i:2:p:311-324
    DOI: 10.1068/b2944
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/b2944
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/b2944?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. P M McGuirk, 2001. "Situating Communicative Planning Theory: Context, Power, and Knowledge," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 33(2), pages 195-217, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Raitio, Kaisa, 2013. "Discursive institutionalist approach to conflict management analysis — The case of old-growth forest conflicts on state-owned land in Finland," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 97-103.
    2. Cairns, George & Wright, George & Fairbrother, Peter & Phillips, Richard, 2017. "‘Branching scenarios’ seeking articulated action for regional regeneration – A case study of limited success," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 189-202.
    3. Kristof Van Assche & Martijn Duineveld & Raoul Beunen, 2014. "Power and Contingency in Planning," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(10), pages 2385-2400, October.
    4. Stjernström, Olof & Junker, Eivind & Thorsen, Hans Wilhelm, 2023. "The private in the public: The case of Norwegian private zoning plans," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    5. Tikkanen, Jukka, 2018. "Participatory turn - and down-turn - in Finland's regional forest programme process," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 87-97.
    6. Karen Bickerstaff & Gordon Walker, 2005. "Shared Visions, Unholy Alliances: Power, Governance and Deliberative Processes in Local Transport Planning," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 42(12), pages 2123-2144, November.
    7. Ruiz-Villaverde, Alberto & Picazo-Tadeo, Andrés J. & González-Gómez, Francisco, 2015. "The ‘social choice’ of privatising urban water services: A case study of Madrid in Spain," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 616-629.
    8. Linda Fox-Rogers & Enda Murphy, 2016. "Self-perceptions of the role of the planner," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 43(1), pages 74-92, January.
    9. Takeda, Louise & Røpke, Inge, 2010. "Power and contestation in collaborative ecosystem-based management: The case of Haida Gwaii," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 178-188, December.
    10. Brett Milligan & Alejo Kraus-Polk & Yiwei Huang, 2020. "Park, Fish, Salt and Marshes: Participatory Mapping and Design in a Watery Uncommons," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-25, November.
    11. Mark Purcell, 2006. "Urban Democracy and the Local Trap," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 43(11), pages 1921-1941, October.
    12. Jon Coaffee & Patsy Healey, 2003. "'My Voice: My Place': Tracking Transformations in Urban Governance," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(10), pages 1979-1999, September.
    13. Jonathan Jae-an Crisman, 2022. "Co-Creation From the Grassroots: Listening to Arts-Based Community Organizing in Little Tokyo," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(3), pages 340-350.
    14. Maarten Wolsink, 2003. "Reshaping the Dutch Planning System: A Learning Process?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 35(4), pages 705-723, April.
    15. Christos Zografos & Joan Martínez-Alier, 2009. "The Politics of Landscape Value: A Case Study of Wind Farm Conflict in Rural Catalonia," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 41(7), pages 1726-1744, July.
    16. Kevin Ramsey, 2008. "A Call for Agonism: GIS and the Politics of Collaboration," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 40(10), pages 2346-2363, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:31:y:2004:i:2:p:311-324. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.