Re/generative diffractions: Theorising planning discourse about deprivation in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Abstract

In recent decades, literature about planning to promote social justice has proliferated. Different models of justice, the potential ways for planning to intervene in the face of injustices, and the legitimacy of such interventions have been widely discussed. Concurrent with this scholarly concern has been the widening of the gap between rich and poor in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It is these contextual factors which have given rise to this research. This thesis makes two contributions to the planning literature: one empirical, and one methodological. First, my work examines planning discourse relating to deprived communities in Aotearoa/New Zealand. I analyse two case studies that exemplify the primary approaches currently taken to planning for deprived areas: housing-led regeneration (Tāmaki) and community development (Flaxmere). For each case study, I provide rich contextual and historical background, before conducting examinations of the discursive practices and discursive frames used in key policy documents. Reading these sources of data together and through each other diffractively, my research suggests that currently the dominant discursive practices and frames used in local planning policy reinforce inequalities. This gives rise to the question at the heart of this thesis: How and in what ways can the planning discourse/s about deprived communities in Aotearoa/New Zealand be reshaped to engage more effectively with inequality? The second contribution the thesis makes is methodological. I propose a diffractive method for planning research and practice. This approach, which is explained in Chapters 3 and 4, brings together a wide range of sources of data, including the researcher's own affective and embodied responses, in an attempt to generate a more nuanced understanding of the issue of planning for deprived communities. Attentive to the interactions between diverse sources of information, this diffractive methodology offers a novel way of exploring planning policy problems, and of conducting planning research. The embodied and reparative approach to understanding deprived communities demonstrated in this thesis has relevance internationally for those hoping to advance a more humane, generous and emancipatory mode of planning research and practice.