PLAN 502Week 3: Utilitarianism/ Public Interest

Housekeeping Items Sorry for any confusion in my absence. We

will start getting back on track. I actually covered the material for Week 2 as part of Week 1, so we haven’t lost ground. I only wish we could have gotten ahead and broken Week 4’s readings into two components.

The notes are up from the first week on my web site – web.viu.ca/alexander2 under “Courses,” as are today’s. The outline is, in addition, on Plan Hub.

I would like to send a test e-mail to see if people get it, as people have not been getting my e-mails.

Housekeeping Items

As you know, hopefully, the deadline for the major project has been pushed back to October 14th.

I’m sure there are questions about the assignments, but we can take time in class and I can meet with you individually. For the comparison of policies, did anyone look into Healthy Habitat? I know the main organizer would be thrilled to have some help with her research.

Housekeeping Items

The sky’s the limit – literally! I listed in the course outline possible foci, but some municipalities have even adopted “dark sky” policies to try to preserve the ability of urban dwellers to see stars, etc.

Upcoming event: the film “Bikes vs. Cars” on Wednesday, October 7th at 6:30 in Building 250, Room 125, by donation.

Also: Sustainability Fair, October 8th 11:30 to 2 in the Library Quad.

Tough Chapter & Somewhat Dry

The “public interest” in land use planning was legitimized by the Town and Country Planning Act in the UK (1947), the Euclid, Ohio vs. Ambler Realty Co. (1926), and in Canada, between 1912 and 1922, eight provinces passed enabling legislation to permit municipalities to produce plans and bylaws.

Is the concept of the public interest really just a fig leaf that doesn’t provide a real standard against which decisions or standards can be evaluated?

As we will see there are different conceptions of interests. Edmund Burke and Marx believed in objective, unattached interests. For instance, workers supposedly have interests, even if they aren’t aware of what they are.

Chapter on Utilitarianism/ the Public Interest

What about the impact of post-modernism? Whereas modernism assumed there was one truth, one common narrative, one common interest (this was true of capitalism, communism, and Christianity), post-modernism says that that ‘truth’ is all relative to where one sits – to one’s culture, ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. In essence, it challenges the premises of The Enlightenment.

If we abandon the notion of the ‘public interest,’ the authors argue that we have to wrestle with the same issues under a different heading. John Dewey (1859-1952) believed there are common interests that can only clarified through discussion.

Chapter on Utilitarianism/ the Public Interest

Postmodernism is… “skeptical of explanations that claim to be valid for all groups, cultures, traditions, or races, and instead focuses on the relative truths of each person…. In the postmodern understanding, interpretation is everything; reality only comes into being through our interpretations of what the world means to us individually.”

Is this something you accept? What do you think? It should be pointed out that the influence of it has declined in recent years.

Chapter on Utilitarianism/ the Public Interest

Modernism was associated not only with communism, but also with ‘progressive’ social policy in the developed West. It was seen as the role of progressive policy and planning professionals to improve social ills – for instance, to provide better housing, or, alternatively, to provide professional advice to politicians.

The latter was premised on the influence of positivism (truth derived from sense experience and research, as interpreted by reason). No room for intuition or instinct. Planning a science, not an art or craft.

There would be a separation of means and ends. The politicians would define the ends and the planners would choose the best means of attaining those ends.

Chapter on Utilitarianism/ the Public Interest

It was also associated with the notion that there are certain infrastructural goods that are in everyone’s interest, but that no one wants to pay for (the free rider phenomenon). Examples?

When do politicians have to override the majority, including with Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) groups, and make unpopular decisions?

How do we distinguish between general interests and selfish or particularistic interests masquerading as the latter? What are some examples?

Chapter on Utilitarianism/ the Public Interest

As several studies, such as Meyerson and Banfield (1955) and Alshuler (1965) showed, the planners were often far from disinterested and, even when their intentions were good, good intentions often led to you know where. Planners are not value-free.

A good examplewas the high risedevelopment for poor people, Pruitt-Igoe, in St. Louis.It became so dysfunc-tional within a few years it had to be dynamited.

Chapter on Utilitarianism/ the Public Interest

The authors define an interest as involving: concern with or attention to somewhat (examples?) having a stake in something? with respect to the latter, even ‘amenities’ – such as

ecosystems – can have a stakeo Different philosophers of interest/utility --- for

instance, Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), who defined utility/ interest as subjective and involving pleasure vs. pain. What would this mean? [Parenthetically, how does one create a calculus of pleasure and pain?]

Who gets hurt to facilitate other people getting their pleasure? The authors argue that the state has a role in “ensuring that the individual’s pursuit of private pleasure is consonant with the collective good…”

Chapter on Utilitarianism/ the Public Interest

Bentham’s broader philosophy of utilitarianism is that governments should strive for a condition of the “greatest good for the greatest number.” It fell to governments to enforce the common good. Are we achieving that in North America today? Any significant differences between the U.S. and Canada?

Or James Madison (1751-1836), one of the drafters of the U.S. Constitution and fourth President of the United States, who defined interests as plural, attached, and subjective. Each representative in the Congress was to represent only his constituents. Like Bentham, Madison believed that interests are subjective.

Chapter on Utilitarianism/ the Public Interest

More recently, the modernist narrative has been about growth. Growth would lead to more individual opportunity, social justice, and even enhanced environmental quality. This particular narrative is coming under scrutiny. Why is this so?

By the 1980s, planners’ roles had changed to that deal-makers – trying to broker deals between citizens, politicians, and developers, often in the context of what has been called the “growth machine.” Nanaimo has often been a prime example.

Frank Ney, former mayor

Chapter on Utilitarianism/ the Public Interest The authors stress that utilitarianism ≠

libertar-ianism. Citizens can still be ‘other-regarding’ for the needs of others, even while concerned with their maximizing their own pleasure, and it can still fall to governments to enforce the common good.

The shoe analogy can be used to either support a subjective interests perspective or in the service of the ‘experts know best.’ The wearer knows where the shoe pinches, but the shoe salesperson may know better than the consumer what type of shoe is likely to be more comfortable over the long run.

Chapter on Utilitarianism/ the Public Interest On the top of p. 121, matrix of different

forms of utilitarianism: outcome vs. procedurally-focused, interest bases that are either individual, collective or stakeholder-based, and interests that are either objective, subjective, or intersubjective. Some of these may become more clear during our exercise.

The authors argue for a unitary public interest on the grounds that: a)the playing field needs to be levelled; b)people may be mistaken regarding their interests, and c)that there are collective interests that transcend private interests and that must apply across the board.

Chapter on Utilitarianism/ the Public Interest This does not preclude participation and

deliberation. Different claims to value conflict, and politics is the means to resolving and achieving a ‘higher’ interest.

A de-ontological approach focuses on rights, fairness, and justice, not outcomes. More specifically, the right of everyone to be considered fairly and equally in the planning or policy-making process, and for the process be completely transparent.

Even if decision-makers don’t go with the majority, it is important that the latter have had “the right to be heard.”

Chapter on Utilitarianism/ the Public Interest

Rights are not policy instruments for collective policy goals, just a principle for individual duty or entitlement. Rights can be used to perpetuate inequalities. They can be used against collective values.

Jürgen Habermas (1929- ) takes a dialogical approach of wanting to create “an ideal speech situation” where people have to justify their assertions and value norms rationally. If they can’t do so, then they lose credibility. Some argue that this isn’t where the real power resides, and that it will only influence things at the local level at best.

Chapter on Utilitarianism/ the Public Interest John Dryzek takes a looser view – not everyone

needs to be involved (as long all relevant groups are represented), and people must be communicatively competent.

Patsy Healey’s viewpoint is that dialogue sets us on a journey, not a destination. Others are skeptical of the possibility of achieving consensus, and note that there can be no process without content.

“…the distinguishing hallmark of planning is its concern for strategically linking multiple policy areas and decision fields across space and though time…. Given the unequal distribution of rights, resources of all kinds and, hence, power, negotiation, bargaining, trade-offs, strategic argumentation and other competitive practices, which do not meet the requirements of discursive argumentation, are an intrinsic part of the process.”

Positive Example In False Creek South

For the past four years, there is an organization – Re*Plan – organizing the neighbourhood and seeking to re-extend land leases and develop a new land use plan for the neighbourhood on an equal footing with the City.

It helps that the organization contains several planners and architects, and that it is taking an interest-based approach to negotiation.

Exercise I would like to break you up into seven groups to

discuss specific issues relating to the ‘public interest,’ conflicting interests, and possible means of resolving them.

Case 1: HPV is a sexually transmitted virus that can affect up to three-quarters of sexually active women. There is a vaccine that can eliminate the chance of women ever getting the virus, and health officials recommend administering it before girls become sexually active. It was recently in the news that the Catholic bishop of Prince George is adamantly opposed to girls getting the vaccine – one, because it violates parents’ rights, and two, because abstinence is the better choice.

Exercise Case 2: Ontario is thought to have one of the most

radical sex education curriculums in the country. For instance, in Grade 1, students are taught to “Identify body parts, including genitalia, using correct terminology. Recognize caring behaviours and exploitive behaviours.” In Grade 3, they learn to “identify the characteristics of healthy relationships, including those with friends, siblings and parents. Describe how visible differences, such as skin colour, and invisible differences, including gender identity and sexual orientation, make each person unique. Identify ways of showing respect for differences in others. Develop safety guidelines for Internet use.”

This curriculum is not popular with some parents.

Exercise Case 3: In late August, it was reported that at its

annual convention, the Canadian Medical Association, “Canada’s doctors stopped short of advocating for mandatory vaccinations for children on Wednesday, calling, instead, for parents to provide proof to school officials that their children have been vaccinated.

A resolution passed at the Canadian Medical Association’s annual general meeting in Halifax called on governments to authorize elementary and secondary schools to require parents to declare their child’s immunization status.

The resolution called for public health officials to have discussions with parents if their children are not adequately immunized.”

Exercise Case 4: The Canada Line. Many businesses

originally thought the Line would be built using a bored tunnel. Instead a “cut and cover” approach was chosen from 64th to 2nd Avenues.

“This raised concern over the disruption of local business on Cambie Street. Despite these efforts, businesses on Cambie Street experienced significant loss of business and a number of businesses went out business. After numerous failed appeals to the provincial government for compensation, store operators unsuccessfully sued for compensation. However, since the completion of the Canada Line, the line has been linked to rising property values along Cambie Street and in Richmond.”

Exercise Case 5: Should all neighbourhoods have the

responsibility for hosting rehabilitation facilities and/or low-income housing facilities, even if they don’t want them?

Case 6: If a neighbourhood is zoned for higher densities, up to and including towers, should they be allowed to proceed, even if the neighbourhood is overwhelmingly opposed.

Case 7: In Vancouver, there is a neighbourhood called First Shaughnessy where the City is taking steps to make it very difficult to tear down heritage houses – a worrying trend in recent years. Some owners fear that this will cause a decline in their property values.

Exercise – Questions to Address What ethical issues/ questions of value are

involved? Who are the relevant stakeholders? What is the ‘public interest,’ if any? How can conflicting parties find common

ground, or should a public agency do what it sees as in the public interest or take the most legally responsible action?

Take 25 minutes to start with and appoint a spokesperson to report back to the class.

If we have time, we can watch this video: http://digital.films.com/PortalViewVideo.aspx?xtid=4957