Assembling transitions in urban stream management: Long Bay Structure Plan (1997-2011)

Abstract

A history of degradation resulting from on‐going urban expansion and intensification has resulted in increased recognition of the need to improve stream management practice within urban development. The slow uptake of more sustainable approaches has resulted in increased attention to transitions theory within urban water management. This study uses the geographic concept of assemblage to provide a constructivist account of how transitions emerge out of heterogeneous, complex, unstable socio‐natural systems. The Long Bay Structure Plan, in Auckland, New Zealand, is used a case study of a transitional approach to the management of urban streams in the context of development. Long Bay has been identified as a ‘success story’ in local stream management due to the adoption of an integrated, catchment based approach, incorporating stream protection, restoration and low impact stormwater infrastructure. Analysis of transitions in the Long Bay case study addresses the central research question: How do local planning and decision making processes perform and transform urban stream management? A qualitative research approach is used, including semi‐structured interviews and document analysis, to trace the evolution of stream management in the LBSP through the local planning and decision making processes. Evaluation of the changes in approach to stream management highlights the importance of actors, and the agency that exists in associations between actors, in driving transitions. The streams themselves, as modifying systems, are identified as important actors in the negotiation and transformation of stream management. It is suggested that the socio‐technical focus of transitions theory is therefore limiting. Furthermore, unlike the hierarchical transition models that dominate the literature, this research suggests that opportunities for transitions exist in the indeterminacy of policy and instability of process. Rather than focusing on transitions through policy reform, it is suggested that it is through performance of processes that transformation occurs. Finally, evaluation of ‘transitions’ in Long Bay draws attention to trajectories of change that emerge in place and continue to be assembled and reassembled through performance and changes in associations between actors. It is suggested that processes of transitioning provide a fruitful ground for further research. This study demonstrates that the geographical application of assemblage is a useful way for exploring transitioning in socio‐natural systems.