Transcending Dilemmas in Urban Policy-Making: Envisioning versus Adapting, Growing versus Stabilizing

António Ferreira, Joana Ribeiro-Santos and Isabel Breda-Vázquez

Planning Theory & Practice, 2020, vol. 21, issue 1, 76-93

Abstract: The problems faced by stakeholders in contemporary urban policy-making processes are becoming increasingly intricate and are emerging at an increasingly faster pace. Many of these problems are emerging as dilemmas between option A or option B. This article proposes that dilemmas can be addressed at three different levels of complexity. At the lowest level, stakeholders accept dilemmas without questioning their formulation, and assume that an either-or choice is required. They accept both the costs and the benefits of either option A or B while dismissing the benefits and costs of the discarded alternative. At a higher level of complexity, stakeholders manage to transcend the dilemma: they reconfigure the problem formulation and create a hitherto unforeseen solution that compounds the benefits of options A and B while rejecting the costs of both options. At the highest level of complexity, stakeholders purposefully look for several dilemmas to transcend in tandem while creating synergies throughout the process. In order to illustrate this argument, the article explores the case of Porto and considers two dilemmas in particular. The first is the envisioning versus adapting dilemma: should cities embrace a powerful vision for their future or adapt to emerging opportunities? The second is the growing versus stabilizing dilemma: should cities continuously pursue economic growth or aim to maintain an agreed-upon level of economic activity? The article offers empirical insights on both dilemmas as experienced in Porto and concludes with a reflection about the strategic relevance of addressing dilemmas at the highest level of complexity possible.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/14649357.2019.1703029 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rptpxx:v:21:y:2020:i:1:p:76-93

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rptp20

DOI: 10.1080/14649357.2019.1703029

Access Statistics for this article

Planning Theory & Practice is currently edited by Heather Campbell

More articles in Planning Theory & Practice from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().