Power, resistance and the Welsh sustainable development agenda: the case of the M4 ‘relief road'

Virtanen, Mirka Johanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3700-2463 2023. Power, resistance and the Welsh sustainable development agenda: the case of the M4 ‘relief road'. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

This thesis examines the dynamics of stakeholder participation in infrastructure planning in the context of the discursive construction of the devolved Welsh sustainable development framework. It looks at how stakeholders from different governance scales and horizontal networks, such as business and community actors, mobilised along a proposed motorway extension in South Wales (the M4 ‘relief road’). In the context of scholarship on multilevel governance, the withdrawal of national government from the local planning context has been explored in planning research through a focus on the development of local planning discourses. How bottom-up stakeholder participation unfolds across governance scales specifically targeting devolution has thus far not been considered. Addressing this gap can improve our understanding of how participation influences planning outcomes in multilevel systems and the need to understand the social dynamics of sustainable planning transitions. The research argues that planning participation can be explored as a process of continual discursive struggle that takes place both within and outside participatory events prescribed by a planning authority. Utilising Hajer’s (1997) discourse coalition approach in the context of devolved planning, actors are found to actively participate in the planning struggle through constructing and co-opting into storylines that influence proposed development. Using a qualitative methodology combining analyses of planning policy, media coverage and participant interviews, the research provides a detailed picture of how the conflicting aims of different stakeholder groupings shape the sustainability discourse emerging in Welsh planning during the case study period. The research contributes to planning literature by conceptualising multiscalar participation as a contributor to planning discourses: in the case of the M4, discourse coalitions were found to shape not only the eventual rejection of the ‘relief road’ but also the wider sustainability discourse that continues to shape current Welsh transport planning.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Geography and Planning (GEOPL)
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1. Public participation 2. Infrastructure planning 3. Multilevel governance 4. Devolution 5. Sustainable development 6. Infrastructure governance 7. Sustainable transport 8. Discourse coalitions 9. Discourse analysis 10. Media analysis
Funders:	ESRC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	21 May 2024
Last Modified:	11 Oct 2024 01:05
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/169060

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