Research Projects
Associated GAMUT Projects: (Projects Being Conducted by GAMUT partners).
Path Dependence in Urban Transport. Discursive and Institutional Barriers to Urban Environmental Sustainability: A Comparative Study of Infrastructure Policy in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
Chief Investigators
Nicholas Low, Brendan Gleeson and Carey Curtis
Project Members
Emma Rush, Rachel Astle
Project Description
This research project aims to discover what stands in the way of adoption of a new policy paradigm: 'environmental sustainability'. Through case studies in transport policy the research explains how structures of reasoning, together with institutions and discursive networks, persistently influence decision makers, creating barriers to paradigmatic change. From an examination of published documents we identify the supporting arguments. Analysis of budget documents will show how public expenditure patterns interact with organizational structures to influence outcomes. The research demonstrates, through institutional analysis and key informant interviews, how 'story lines' are embedded in governance through the beliefs of key personnel. Story lines are shown to form common understandings binding political actors to support a given policy. Countervailing positions are recorded and investigated to inquire whether, and to what extent, they have facilitated coalitions and opportunities favouring policies shaped around sustainability.
Timeline
2003-2007
Publications
- Low, N.P., Gleeson, B.J. and Rush, E (2003) 'Making believe: institutional and discursive barriers to sustainable transport in two Australian cities', International Planning Studies 8/2 pp. 93-114.
- Low, N.P. (2005) 'The discourse network: a way of understanding policy formation, stability and change in the networked polity' in Mandelbaum, S. and Albrechts, L. The Network Society: A New Context for Planning, Routledge, London and New York, pp. 45-56.
- Low, N.P (2005) 'The Gordian Knot: resisting sustainability in urban transport in Australia' in K. Williams ed. Spatial Planning, Urban Form and Sustainable Transport, Ashgate, Aldershot, UK pp. 171-182.
- Low, N.P., Gleeson, B.J. and Rush, E (2005) 'A Multivalent Conception of Path Dependence: The case of transport planning in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia', Environmental Sciences 2/4.