Dissertation
- Municipal Planning, Land Development and Environmental Intervention: An Institutional Ethnography: A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto
Dr. Turner introduces major innovations to IE’s project of extending ethnographic reach into the structures of power in contemporary society. She demonstrates in her ethnographic practice and analysis a method of mapping complex intergovernmental processes in a way that resolves them into sequences of actual people’s work, showing how the texts or documents of government, interpolated into those sequences, coordinate them. Though the overview may seem overwhelmingly complex at first sight, each phase is enlarged for scrutiny, demonstrating the depth and detail of the ethnography and the visual cogency of the map. Turner’s work is exemplary and will be an important model for others who propose to reach ethnographically deeper into institutional levels of the organization of contemporary society than has hitherto been possible.
Dorothy Smith – founder of Institutional Ethnography, University of Victoria, Canada
Understanding how regulatory texts function has been identified as critical in institutional ethnography inquiries into the planning process. As Turner remarks “[u]nderstanding what the texts ‘do’ is a practical problem for anyone participating in the planning process” (2005, p235).
I drew on work by Turner (2006) to create a ‘chain of action’ which mapped the actual experiences of Waikato-Tainui and Hamilton City Council during Te Rapa and Ruakura against the Schedule 1 process to prepare or review a plan under the Resource Management Act (1991). This map of ‘extended work processes’ allowed me to locate experiences explored through interviews with case study participants in the official plan development process, and to identify exactly where the interests of Waikato-Tainui were subordinated to the interests of Hamilton City Council. Through focussing on ‘sites of ruling’ in staff reports and meeting minutes, I was able to “to see these textual practices as located in sequences of action that are happening, so the text is made present in a setting, and occurs” (Turner, 2006, p140).
Situating planners’ experiences within the social relations and texts that comprise the institution of land use planning allowed planners to speak about the possibilities of change within the institution.
— Biddy (Brigid) Livesey, Principal Advisor at Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, New Zealand
Biddy Livesey (Pākehā)’s doctoral research investigates the urban development of land acquired as commercial redress through settlements under the Treaty of Waitangi. She has worked in the area of urban development as a policy planner at Auckland Council and policy analyst at the New Zealand Ministry for the Environment. Her doctoral thesis is entitled ‘Planning to develop land returned under Treaty settlement in Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand: An institutional ethnography’ .