Going round the Back? Complex Networks and Informal Action in Local Planning Processes

Abstract

In negotiated land-use planning decisions there may be intractable opposition and the use of strength, strategy, and influence outside of formal public participation processes—forms of communicative behaviour neglected by Habermasian theory. I investigate the empirical reality of the importance of networks and lobbying as a form of informal action in influencing planning outcomes through a case study in Western Australia. I map the networks of social relations within which stakeholders act and the links and energy flows between them. I examine stakeholders' utterances and questions of who networks and acts informally; why, when, and how they do so, and with what implications.