Dutch Environmental Issues

Interactive planning of Dutch infrastructural project A case-description of Mainport Schiphol and the A12 national expressway Interactive Planning of Sustainability 1. Introduction Since the beginning of the 90s, the implementation of new infrastructural projects in The Netherlands became increasingly problematic. Related environmental issues had a lot of societal attention. The Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, responsible for maintaining a high quality of mobility in the Netherlands, identified three major problems with earlier attempts to solve the infrastructural problems; little social acceptance for new projects, procedures for realizing new projects took too long, and the proposed solutions were not really original and often more of the same. For solving these problems, this Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management proposed a change from top-down decision making to a more open and interactive form of policy making for planning, developing, and implementing new infrastructure (Enthoven and de Rooij, 1996). With interactive policy making, the main goal is to make more creative and effective plans, by involving all stakeholders like citizens, (local and/or national) governments and experts. For this paper, 2 cases are selected, related to a Dutch infrastructure issue and dealt with on an interactive way; Mainport Schiphol near Amsterdam and the A12 national expressway near The Hague. The first one is selected because of its elaborated description in Susskind et al. (1999), its high degree of complexness and the fact the outcomes were fairly positive, the second one is selected also because of its suitable description in Glasbergen en Driessen (2005), but with a more straight-forward problem definition and its positive outcomes. Discussing these two Dutch cases, we will focus on four critical issues, related to interactive planning and often discussed in literature: Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge. Although more critical issues can be defined, like Roles op participants, Modes of evaluation and Use of outcomes by policy makers, only these four are chosen because of the fact that these are clearly discussed in the selec ted case-descriptions and these seemed to be crucial for the success of these cases. Chapter 2 will discuss each critical issue shortly. Chapter 3 will discuss the two cases in the light of the four different critical issues, and chapter 4 will give a conclusion. To structure this research the following research question is formulated: How do the four critical issues (Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge) contribute to the rate of success of 2 infrastructural cases in The Netherlands (the Schiphol case and the A12 national expressway)? 2. Critical Issues This chapter will elaborate a bit more about what is actually meant with the four different critical issues: Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge. 2.1 Participant selection The question of which parties to involve is answered by a set of four considerations that should be taken into account when selecting the participants (De Bruijn et al., 2002). Firstly, parties with blocking power in the decision-making are important. Involving these parties in the process may keep them from using their blocking power in ways that are unforeseen. Secondly, parties with productive power should be part of the process. These parties will actually have to implement the decisions that are taken, and can influence the decision making with their control over the productive resources. Thirdly, parties that have an interest in the decision-making should be considered. These are parties that do not have substantial power in the decision making process (like blocking power or resources), but nevertheless are confronted with the outcomes of the group process and therefore can provide important information and moral considerations. Finally, this moral aspect of decision-making ca n by a reason to invite certain parties to join the process. Moral and ethical considerations can be important to embody the voice of those who are affected by the potential decision, but are not invited to the process for different reasons (De Bruin, 2002). 2.2 Power and access One of the key goals of interactive policy making is that it should reduce the influence of dominant elites and enable the less powerful groups to give input. Those parties or actors, who do not have access to formal decision-making processes or who cannot exert enough influence by the way of discussion and negotiation are more likely to initiate legal proceedings. Publics ability to participate in decisions can be assessed according to three elements (as defined at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992): access to information, access to the decision-making process, and access to redress or change decision. These three elements will shortly be explained below. Access to information can be seen as the first foundation of access and also one of the most passive forms of access seen from the perspective of the public. With access to information is meant the ability the public has to easily get access to forms of relevant information in which they are directly or indirectly involved, such as environmental impact assessments, reports from industries about their emissions etc. But one also can think about getting informed about potential relevant activities, which possibly can affect the publics environment. Access to the decision-making processes wants to give the public a more active role. Once this form of access is attained, one can even speak of a certain form of power. One must not focus on only the opportunity to provide input on specific subjects, but also the ability to influence more general decisions, such as the making of new laws or national policies. Access to redress or change a certain decision is also related to a form of power, since the ability to change a certain decision gives a citizen the power to influence the decision-making process. This form of access can be translated into making judicial or administrative remedies accessible to the public, when officials fail to do their work in a proper manner (Mock et al., 2003). 2.3 Roles of facilitators The roles that a facilitator can play in group decision processes constitute of consistent packages of specific tasks within the group process combined with a more general attitude towards the group members and the process. In literature, three major roles of a facilitator are commonly distinguished: a role as process architect or process manager, a mediating role and a convening role. As a process architect, the facilitator lays down the backbone of the group process. The process should be structured in such a way that all relevant insights from the participants will play a role in the process. Four core principles for designing a group process can be discriminated: openness, protection of core values, speed and substance (De Bruijn et al., 2002). These four core elements of process design should be included and safeguarded in any process design in order to satisfy all the participants. The facilitator focuses on the process so that group members can focus on the substance and can suggest different ways of discussing problems, ensuring that all group members can freely express there comments and are free of any abuses of power or personal attack (Susskind et al., 1999). Especially in environmental issues, the interests, values and problem perceptions of different parties may often be far apart form each other. With such large contrasts of interest within the group, a facilitator often is faced with disputes and conflicts within the group process, that are hard to solve with mere changes in the structure of the process. In such case, the role of the facilitator can be very closely related with a mediating role in which the facilitator is mediating between parties, even to establish a general structure of the process. In addition, an external mediator can be asked to solve the conflicts. An external mediator is a neutral person that specializes in solving disputes between different participants in the group process, often using a variety of negotiation techniques and (psychological) methods of reframing problems and solutions (Acland, 1995). In a convening role, the facilitator has a say in which parties should be involved in the group process, and at what roles they will have. The convening role of a facilitator is sometimes not far apart from the role that a facilitator has as a process designer. Proper management of a group decisions process clearly has a very import influence on the effectiveness of that process. The facilitator can influence that process to quit a large extent. The consensus of all group members on the final decision depends for a large part on the level of agreement within the group with the approach that facilitators takes in structuring and managing the process. 2.4 Role of knowledge Knowledge is a crucial ingredient of interactive planning. However, the significance of the use of knowledge depends on ones view. Over the years, the view on the role of knowledge has changed. The rational actor model has gradually been replaced by adaptive decision and learning strategies interacting with the environment. Before, planning would be perceived as proceeding in an orderly and linear fashion (Friend Hickling, 2005). Today some authors state that knowledge is a result of collective social processes. This implies that knowledge is a social construct, rather than an objective entity. In the new approach, linear progression of the process is seen as unrealistic. Instead, the uniqueness, ambiguity and unpredictability of real world processes are emphasized. With the recognition that planning is an interactive and communicative process, the notion of the interrelationship between expert and experiential knowledge has become more and more crucial. Interactive planning is now seen as organized rituals where deliberating participants listen to one another, search for new options and learn to find new ways of going on together (Khakee et al., 2000). 3. Case description For a complete description of each of the two cases, see appendix 1 and 2. This section will only discuss the previously mentioned four critical issues related to interactive policy making (Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge), related to the experiences of these two cases. 3.1 Mainport Schiphol Schiphol Airport is situated in a highly urbanized area, and deals with national, continental and intercontinental air traffic. Although its presence is causing many stress on its environmental surroundings, the Dutch government wants it to expand, so it can act as a hub for continental and intercontinental air traffic. With this expansion there are two interests at stake: on national level an economic one (because an enlarged Schiphol would increase economic activities), and on regional level an environmental one (because a bigger Schiphol will cause an increase of nuisances of noise, pollution, and safety). These two opposite interests caused a stalemate to occur since the 1950s. In the 1980s, one of the government authorities took the initiative to change the common way of working and activated the policy network, to address the issues (Driessen, 1999). 3.1.1 Participant selection The most important actor in this case was the Dutch Government, who made the prefigured decision to expand the airport into an international hub. All other participants had to find their win-win outcomes within this context of developmental growth. From the beginning, various government organisations have been involved in the development of Schiphol Airport. The main players are three ministries. The ministry of Transport and Public Works is by far the most important actor, responsible for the economic development of the airport as well as the abatement of noise nuisance. Second, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment is also involved, responsible for physical planning in The Netherlands and implementing policies regarding the rest of the environmental effects of the activities of the airline industries, namely air pollution, stench and hazard. Finally, the Ministry of Economic Affairs plays and important role, pursuing further economic development in the region o f Schiphol (Driessen, 1999). Lower tiers of governments involved were the province of North Holland, responsible for environmental policy and planning for the region, and the municipalities surrounding the airport, both benefiting (by increased employment and tax-incomes) and enduring the aggravation (caused by noise, stench, air pollution, and other activities that degrade the environment) of having the airport close by. The municipality of Haarlemmermeer is a special case, because this municipality is authorized to create a land use plan for the airfield. Additionally, two enterprises play a crucial role: NV Luchthaven Schiphol (operating the airport and completely state owned) and KLM (the major Dutch carrier and partly owned by the state) (Driessen, 1999). Because the Ministry of Transport and Public Works occupied a pivotal position, being both responsible for the economic development of Schiphol and the abatement of noise nuisance, it was agreed that noise regulation would be regulated by the Aviation Act, which was under the responsibility of the Ministry of Transport and Public Works. Nevertheless, little actions were made to reduce noise nuisance, because all participants believed that technical solutions would solve all noise-problems in the near future. Because no agreement could be made between these participants on how much the airport should be allowed to grow, or how to tackle the environmental problems, the Dutch government asked the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment to make an integral plan for the Schiphol region, ensuring both economic development as well as environmental improvements. In the following process, a project group and a steering committee were established. The steering committee was comp osed out of all above-mentioned parties, while the project group contained all interest groups. Any party with interest in the case could join the project group (Driessen, 1999). Based on the case-description and related to the four considerations described in section 2.1, it must be concluded that parties with blocking and productive power were strongly involved in the interactive planning process, by joining the steering committee. Other parties with interest were also involved, by joining the project group, but their influence was relatively small. If parties were involved, based on moral considerations, does not become clear from this case-description. 3.1.2 Power and access The three different Governmental agencies (the ministry of Transport and Public Works, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs) with jurisdictional authority over airport expansion, had accepted the mandate for airport expansion, but each with more at stake than achieving this outcome. Interagency rivalry and power played a critical part in the positions the ministries adopted and the coalitions they build during negotiations. The creation of a project group composed of all interest groups and of a steering committee of essential power brokers gave much power to the steering committee alone. From the case description, it does not become clear that the members of the steering committee, who were eventually excluded from the decision-making, were those who could not benefit in a win-win situation, or were simply not powerful enough to block or advance progress. Nevertheless, the exclusion of interests cannot lead to a win-win sol ution and has encountered difficulties building consensus and achieving compliance (Driessen, 1999). Based on the case-description and related to the three elements described in section 2.2, it must be concluded that Access to information does not form an obstacle. Perhaps the overload on information and the opposed and contradicting information gave bigger problems. The public was given some access to the decision-making process when they joint the project group, by commenting the ideas of the steering committee. However, the steering committee made all final decisions, so there was certainly no access to redress or change a decision. 3.1.3 Roles of facilitator After the developed deadlock between the initially participants, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment was made primary responsible for the task of making an integral plan for the Schiphol region, ensuring both economic development as well as environmental improvements. The fact that this ministry had a strong affiliation with environmental issues raised initial suspicion among the other governmental bodies. They wondered whether this ministry would be able to take a neutral position in the ensuing discussions. However, their initial wariness soon gave way to a realistic attitude, and actively joined the process (Driessen, 1999). The Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment designed an organizational framework for the discussion whereby the coordinated approach would be given a concrete form by activating the policy network. With this, the ministry acquired a dual function in the project, because it was the convenor, chair and facilitator of the planning process, and had to secure the input of environmental interest in the decision-making (Driessen, 1999). In the initial stage, the strategy of the project leaders of the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment was to bring the various parties closer together by conducting investigations and exchanging information, assuming that this might contribute to a better understanding and more appreciation for each different standpoint. The was no need for a professional facilitator, because all information was being collected, analyzed, and disseminated in an orderly way, although a professional facilitator could have helped structuring the problem. At the end of this stage, the project leaders formulated a plan, which could not be released because of the rain of criticism it caused (Driessen, 1999). Because of this setback, the project leaders decided to recruit a professional facilitator, with the task not to increase the supply of information, but to let parties sought to digest what they had and to arrive at a decision. From the case-description, it does not become clear if this facilitator had staff support and whether he/she had analytical, problem solving skills. The approach taken by the facilitator was aimed at bringing the main bottlenecks to the fore, in order to reach agreements at least on key points. The approach was characterized by the creation of a strong interaction between the project group and the steering committee. The later reviewed the issues that the project group had pared down in size, and either approved the solutions offered by the project group or send them back to the project group for reconsideration (Driessen, 1999). After this process, the facilitator presented the choices made by the project group and the steering committee to the public. The central aim of this was, to gain social and political legitimacy; the plan was opened up to the public discussion and the reactions were taken into account in the final version. Unfortunately, the public was hardly informed about the process preceding the plan and therefore it was generally received with great suspicion. Adding to this, the public discussion did not proceeded in a coordinated fashion, but each government resorted to its own method of public discussion. At the same time of these public hearings, the facilitator had to focus on the steering committee, because each party could take criticism of the plan as a lever to reopen discussion on subjects already discussed. At the end, the facilitator wrote the final text of the plan, shaping the final agreements also including the difficult topics of a reduction of noise nuisance and hazard (Driessen , 1999). From this description of the facilitator, it becomes clear that the facilitator had both the role of process architect, and mediator. The facilitator designed the entire framework of decision-making and mediated when problems occurred. If the facilitator also had a convening role is unclear. Which stakeholders could join the steering committee was already decided before the facilitator got involved. How actually the project group was formed, stays unclear from this case-description. 3.1.4 Role of knowledge Especially in issues related to airfield, experts disagree on numerous crucial uncertainties. This makes the role of knowledge both important but not of the same tenor. Research plays a key role in these controversies. This relates to research on, for instance, the need to build a new airport or expand the existing one, it may concern the most desirable infrastructure in and around the airport, it may deal with the profitability of operation, it may investigate the economic impact of the airport, or it may consider possible negative effects on the environment. However, this research must never be judged as objective and will always play a role in the conflict of interest, expressed in this case, in the frequency of requested second opinions (Driessen, 1999). In the case of noise nuisance, it took long time to be acknowledged as a problem and to find a way of calculating the level of distress. In the mid-1960s, a system was developed to measure noise nuisance, but no agreement could be made on how it should be applied. For instance, there was discussion about how to determine the threshold value for maximum admissible noise nuisance. Furthermore, options differ on setting a specific norm for night flights. The disagreement revolves around the degree to which departing and arriving airplanes disturb the sleep of nearby residents, and whether such disruption is detrimental to public health. There was also uncertainty about, the rate air traffic would increase, and the degree to which technical developments in aeronautics could help reduce noise levels by changing the aircrafts design (Driessen, 1999). Therefore, as also stated in section 2.4, knowledge is very important in decision-making processes, but as these processes get more interaction with a broad scale of actors, knowledge becomes more a result of collective social processes and loses its objective entity. From this case-description, it does not become explicitly clear if the decisions were based on knowledge provided by experts or that it was formed in an interactive learning process. Implicitly, one could state that the agreement on noise nuisances could only have been established, when such interactive knowledge development occurred. 3.2 A12 national expressway The ease of accessibility of The Hague depends to a large extent on the A12 national expressway. Its final 30 km stretch is marked by many access and exit ramps, and the intensity of traffic in this area has increased dramatically in recent decades. This is partly thanks to the enormous increase in the volume of vehicular traffic, and partly to the proliferation of new urban development locations around The Hague. Much of the traffic is destination traffic which enters the city in the morning and leaves at night. As a result of the higher volumes, congestion became a big problem (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). 3.2.1 Participant selection The planning agency initially saw itself as the owner of the problem at stake and formulated a classical solution of road widening. This approach failed because of public resistance and of a budget problem at the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management. Because of this, the ministry stepped back, which un-deliberately created opportunities for other parties to take initiative. The government authorities of The Hague took the initiative to develop a new architecture for interaction among the different stakeholders. They organized a public dialog and a series of workshops involving local politicians and private businesses from the region, resulting in a new definition of the problem, focussing on the underutilization of existing capacity. The role of the planning agency changed from orchestrator of the infrastructure project to a partner in the wider regional consultation on issues of mobility and livability. They also made subsidies available to the business community , enabling them to work out individual, sometimes innovative, mobility plans (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). Before concluding the analysis of participant selection in this case, the fact that there were no objections to the planes made by this interactive planning-process is probably the best evidence that all relevant stakeholders were included in the process. Nevertheless, from the case-description and related to the four considerations described in section 2.1, it does not become clear how all relevant stakeholders were defined, if all parties with blocking and productive power were added to the process, or if parties with moral and ethical considerations were included. 3.2.2 Power and access This case can bee described as a restricted interactive process, because it was intended to promote the cooperation of public authorities with the private sector. Civic organizations and individual citizens were kept informed through a public relations center. The governmental authorities of The Hague decided which stakeholders were included in the process. Despite this fact, no opposition to this project did arise (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). The access to information was well looked after, in the form of the public relations center. They kept civic organizations and individual citizens informed about the plans and progress. More power was not given to the public in this case. 3.2.3 Roles of facilitator In order to link the government agencies (where the plans were developed), and the business community, a godfather was appointed. This honour was given to the director of the public transport company in the region, and he served as a contact between the project and the private sector. He kept all relevant firms informed about the development of the project and called these firms to task with respect to their responsibilities for the regions accessibility, by reminding them that they might be lagging behind other firms in the development of their mobility plans (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). From the case-description, it must be concluded that the government authorities of The Hague acted as a convener, initially selecting the different stakeholders. Facilitating the process and mediating in conflicts were partly done by the godfather and partly by the government authorities of The Hague. The precise division of responsibilities does not become clear from the case-description. 3.2.4 Role of knowledge According to this case-description, it was the government agencies of The Hague who decided what knowledge was used in the decision process. The only organization consulted for information was the planning agency, also participating in the planning process (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). Although knowledge is crucial in interactive planning (see section 2.4), the role of knowledge in this case is not very big. This probably has two reasons. One is the relative simple problem at stake (congestion) and secondly the fact that all parties agreed on the content of the relevant knowledge. Nevertheless, the fact that only one party provided the relevant knowledge could potentially have caused major problems afterwards. 4. Conclusion This research started with the question: How do the four critical issues (Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge) contribute to the rate of success of 2 infrastructural cases in The Netherlands (the Schiphol case and the A12 national expressway)? How each criterion added to the success of the case is described at the end of each subsection in chapter 3. Overall, it can be concluded that the success of interactive planning depends on the care each criterion is taken care of. If one of these criteria is neglected, it will be reflected in the outcomes. If, for example, participants are forgotten, power is not distributed evenly, facilitators are not adequate, or knowledge is not as objective as possible, the process will take much longer time and the change of good end-results and thus consensus will diminish. Both cases make clear that solutions were impossible to reach in the traditional way of policy making and that interactive policy mak ing contributed to good end results. Nevertheless, in future comparable processes, more attention should be given to the four discussed critical issues, and probably to the seven mentioned in the introduction. Only than, the rate of success of these kind of processes will increase. References Acland, A.F. 1995. Resolving Disputes without going to Court. London, Century Business Books. Bruijn, H. de, E. ten Heuvelhof and R.J. in t Veld. 2002. Process management: Why Project Management Fails in Complex decision making Processes. Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers. Driessen, P. 1999. Activating a Policy Network; The Case of Mainport Schiphol. in Susskind et al., 1999, The Consensus Building Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Reaching Agreement. Enthoven, G.M.W. and A. de Rooij. 1996. InfraLab; Impuls voor open planvorming en creativiteit.Bestuurskunde, Vol. 5, Issue 8, p. 1-8. Friend, J. and A. Hickling. 2004. Planning Under Pressure, The Strategic Choice Approach. Oxford, Buttorworth/Heinemann. Glasbergen, P. and P.J. Driessen. 2005. Interactive planning of infrastructure: the changing role of Dutch project management. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, Vol. 23, p. 263-277. Khakee A., A. Barbanente and D. Borri. 2000. Expert and experimental knowledge in planning. The Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol. 51, No. 7, p. 776-788. Mock, G.A., W. Vanasselt, and E. Petkova. 2003. Rights and reality: Monitoring the publics right to participate. International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, Vol. 9, p. 4-13. Suzzkind, L.S., S. McKearan and J. Thomas-Larmer. 1999. The Consensus Building Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Reaching Agreement. London, SAGE Publications. Appendix 1 Case sheet Mainport Schiphol (Driessen, 1999) 1. Position Initiative: several governmental ministries Time period: 1980-present Level of used policy process: regional/national Phase in policy process: in process 2. Background This case is about plans to expand Amsterdams Schiphol Airport and the disputes related to it. Schiphol Airport is situated in a highly urbanized area, and deals with national, continental and intercontinental air traffic. Although its presence is causing many stress on its environmental surroundings, the Dutch government wants it to expand, so it can act as a hub for continental and intercontinental air traffic. With this expansion there are two interests at stake: on national level an economic one (because an enlarged Schiphol Airport would increase economic activities), and on regional level an environmental one (because a bigger Schiphol Airport will cause an increase of nuisances of noise, pollution, and safety). These two opposite interests caused a stalemate to occur since the 1950s. In the 1980s, one of the government authorities took the initiative to change the common way of working and activated the policy network, to address the issues in a coordinated fashion. Type of policy problem / issue: (No information available) 3. Plan of method and parties involved Plan of method and participation As soon as all parties agreed to participate to the project, a join statement of intent was drawn up in the form of a covenant specifying the aim op the project, the policy standpoints, the organizational structure, and the financing. After this, plans formulated in three stages were hammered out, were consensus had to be reached on: cognitive stage; directed toward gathering and exchanging information in order to make a better appreciation for each others standpoints. productive stage; directing towards decision making on the main points of discussion by an independent facilitator. His aim was, to bring the bottlenecks to the fore and to reach agreements on the key points. formalizing stage; concerning the final decision making and the creation of social and political legitimacy for the plan. The plan was opened up to the public discussion, and the reactions had to be taken into account in the final version. This final version had to be submitted for approval to Parliament, the provincial executive of North Holland, and the municipal councils of Amsterdam and Haarlemmermeer. Participation rules: who and why? The initial main players are three ministries: The Ministry of Transport and Public Works (by far the most important actor and responsible for airport planning, jurisdiction and abatement of noise nuisance), Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment (responsible for all other environmental effects besides noise nuisance (like air pollution, stench and hazard), and physical planning in The Netherlands), and the Ministry of Economic Affairs (pursuing further economic development in the region). Also the province of North Holland and the municipalities surrounding the airport, responsible for environmental policy planning in the region, are participants in this policy network. Finally, to enterprises are involved: NV Luchthaven Schiphol (Schiphol Airport, Inc.) and KLM. Adding to the complexity of the issue; the Dutch Government holds about 3/4 of the shares of the NV Luchthaven Schiphol and 1/3 of the shares of KLM. Thus the government has a large influence in both the com panies as well. In 1988, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment became responsible for the future development of Schiphol Airport. It had to activate the policy network again, by setting up the project and managing it, and secure the input of environmental interests. The organization structure consisted of a project group (containing a broad base of parties with both economical and environmental interests) and a steering committee (Consiting of: The Ministry of Transport and Public Works, Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the province of North Holland, the municipalities of Amsterdam and Haarlemmermeer, NV Luchthaven Schiphol (Schiphol Airport, Inc.) and KLM. Method of alternative weighing (No information available) 4. Role of knowledge Relation to source of knowledge (No information available) Coping with uncertain and incomplete knowledge (No information available) 5. Results Evaluation available Up to 1988, it was not possible to reach consensus within this policy network on the future development of Schiphol. The lack of clarity about the following issues has been important: Uncertainty about the noise nuisance; if it had to be taken into account at all and how to measure it. There was also no clear way of dealing with the level of disturbance night flights caused. The technical possibilities to reduce noise, by changing the design of aircrafts. After the second attempt to solve the development problems around Schiphol Airport, the policy network agreed on a plan to a reduction of noise nuisance and hazard, setting an threshold for noise nuisance and on providing additional sound insulation for dwellings in the vicinity. With regard to the rest of the environmental effects (stench, safety, and air pollution), agreement was reached on the aims, while concrete measures were left to a later stage of plan elaboration. On the basis of this plan, the parties involved drafted a covenant, with the status of a statement of intent, containing the main agreements. Elements useful for weighing sustainable risks (environment, social, economy). (No information available) Appendix 2 Case sheet A12 national expressway (Glasbergen en Driessen, 2005) 1. Position Initiative: The government authorities of the metropolitan area of The Hague Time period: 1998-2005 Level of used policy process: Local Phase in policy process: Implementation (in 2005) 2. Background The ease of accessibility of The Hague depends to a large extent on the A12 national expressway. Its final 30 km stretch is marked by many access and exit ramps, and the intensity of traffic in this area has increased dramatically in recent decades. This is partly thanks to the enormous increase in the volume of vehicular traffic, and partly to the proliferation of new urban development locations around The Hague. Much of the traffic is destination traffic which enters the city in the morning and leaves at night. As a result of the higher volumes, congestion has become a big problem. Type of policy problem / issue: Public resistance against the proposed solution formulated by the planning agency and budget problems at the Ministry if Transport, Public Works and Water Management. 3. Plan of method and parties involved Plan of method and participation The government authorities of the metropolitan area of The Hague took the initiative and developed a new architecture for interaction among the parties. They organized a public dialog and a series of workshops involving local politicians and private businesses from the region. Participation rules: who and why? Local politicians and private businesses from the region, with a clear stake in the problem and its resolution. Method of alternative weighing (No information available) 4. Role of knowledge Relation to source of knowledge (No information available) Coping with uncertain and incomplete knowledge (No information available) 5. Results Evaluation available This project may be seen as a restricted interactive process, in the sense that it was intended to promote the cooperation of public authorities with the private sector. Civic organizations and individual citizens were kept informed through a public relations centre. Despite this limited inclusiveness, opposition to the project did not arise. The case also shows that it is easier to obtain public financing for innovative plans which enjoy broad support than for projects that replicate traditional solutions and are supported only by the planning agency. Because of the interactive approach, the stakeholders could jointly set priorities for the expenditure of public funds for infrastructure. The consultations among these parties resulted in a new definition of the problem one no longer focused on the problem of insufficient road capacity (which had resulted in the proposed solution of widening the road), but on the underutilization of existing capacity (which resulted in the proposal to improve utilization). Along the way, the scope of the problem had been broadened so that it now concerned more than the accommodation of automobile traffic, as it also covered alternatives for modal split: public transport, automobiles, and bicycles. This implied that attention was no longer exclusively focused on the road segment in question, but had shifted to embrace the traffic and mobility issues of the entire region. By redefining the problem, the debate on the classic dilemma asphalt or the environment- was sidetracked. Environmental organizations that had previously opposed the plans now supported the revised approach. Elements useful for weighing sustainable risks (environment, social, economy). (No information available)

Mother-Daughter Conflict in Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club...

We live in a mobile and global world with the development of the technology. Still America continues to be the symbol of the land of freedom and of opportunity. Arriving to America, the Chinese immigrants who come from a traditional, structured, old world struggle to find a balance in a modern and dynamic new world. In order to realize the American dream, the first generation of immigrants have to learn the language, acquire education, and assimilate into the dominant culture. They courageously leave the past behind except what they carry in their memory. Thus, immigrants often experience shock and resistance in dealing with the new world culture. This is especially true for the second generation Chinese-Americans who resist and are†¦show more content†¦Both Tan and Maxine Hong Kingston recognize the difficulties faced by women in such a regimented society. Kingston in The Woman Warrior tells of the folk sayings that proclaimed the worthlessness of women, such as [t]hereâ₠¬â„¢s not profit in raising girls. Better to raise geese than girls, or [w]hen fishing for treasures in the flood, be careful not to pull in girls (195,6). According to Anne P. Standley, Kingston tells of her lifelong struggle to fashion an identity on her own terms and to draw sustenance from her Chinese culture while rejecting its sexist values (165). For her part, Tan in Joy Luck Club illustrates the cultural differences between these two conflicting generations by alternating the voices of the mothers with those of the daughters. Four mothers with a painful past in pre-1949 describe their struggles in China against traditional female roles and family domination. By coming to America they are bringing their hope for a better life which they try to instill into their children. At the start of the book, Jing-Mei sits in the seat for her deceased mother who had started the mah-jong club in 1949 in San Francisco. The Joy Luck aunties inform Jing-Mei that she has two half-sisters in China. She has to go to China to instill in the sisters the spirit of their mother. Jing-Mei cries out, What can I tell about my mother? I don’t know anything (31). Jing-Mei is ashamed of her cultural background. She thinks ofShow MoreRelatedAmy Tan: A Brief Biography757 Words   |  3 PagesAmy Tan is an American Chinese writer most notably known for her critically acclaimed novel The Joy Luck Club, amongst many others. Amy Ruth Tan was born on February 19, 1952, in Oakland California to John and Daisy Tan. Both of Amy’s parents were Chinese immigrants who fled from China to escape hardships. Amy’s mother, Daisy, divorced her abusive husband and left behind three daughters before immigrating to the United States and marrying Amy’s father, John. The marriage produced three children,Read MoreAmy Tan s The Joy Luck Club And The Kitchen God s Wife Essay1609 Words   |  7 PagesJonathan Nguyen Period: 3A February 25, 2016 LWA: Amy Tan Born on February 19, 1952, in Oakland, California, Amy Tan is introduced to the world as an American novelist. Amy Tan is known for being a worldwide artist, as she published two of her famous novels, The Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen God’s Wife. Often, people would think that successful people had a great start at a young age; yet, Amy Tan had experienced a rough childhood until she later became successful. Both of her parents, John andRead More Mother and Daughter Relationships in Joy Luck Club and A Hundred Secret Senses1679 Words   |  7 PagesMother and Daughter Relationships in The Joy Luck Club and A Hundred Secret Senses   Ã‚  Ã‚   In life, many things can be taken for granted - especially the things that mean the most to you. You just might not realize it until youve lost it all. As I walk down the road finishing up my teenage days, I slowly have been finding a better understanding of my mother. The kind of bond that mothers and daughters have is beyond hard to describe. Its probably the biggest rollercoaster ride of emotions thatRead MoreAmy Tan s The Joy Luck Club1023 Words   |  5 Pagesand other scholars’ articles, a diasporic and often considered as postcolonial discourses- Amy Tan’s debut novel The Joy Luck Club comes to my mind. Amy Tan, as one of the renowned contemporary Chinese American writers, and also as one of the daughters of the immigrants herself, writes several novels revealing situations and reflecting problems faced by the Chinese diaspora in America. Although The Joy Luck Club has been published for more than two decades, the stories inside are still going on i n ChineseRead More East-West Values and the Mother-daughter Relationship in Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club1296 Words   |  6 Pagesand the Mother-daughter Relationship in The Joy Luck Club      Ã‚  Ã‚   The dominant theme of The Joy Luck Club is the clash between Chinese, American cultures, and how it affects the relationship between mothers and daughters. All of the mothers in the book were born and raised in China. All of their daughters were born and raised in the United States. Because of the differences in family traditions and values between the way the mothers had been raised in China and the way their daughters were growingRead More Comparing Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club and The Woman Warrior Essay1866 Words   |  8 PagesComparing The Joy Luck Club and The Woman Warrior  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   Amy Tans immensely popular novel, The Joy Luck Club explores the issues faced by first and second generation Chinese immigrants, particularly mothers and daughters. Although Tans book is a work of fiction, many of the struggles it describes are echoed in Maxine Hong Kingstons autobiographical work, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. The pairs of mothers and daughters in both of these books find themselves separatedRead More History, Culture and Identity of Mothers and Daughters in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club1395 Words   |  6 PagesHistory, Culture and Identity of Mothers and Daughters in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club   Ã‚  Ã‚   Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club is a novel that deals with many controversial issues. These issues unfold in her stories about four Chinese mothers and their American raised daughters. The novel begins with the mothers talking about their own childhood’s and the relationship that they had with their mothers. Then it focuses on the daughters and how they were raised, then to the daughters current lives, and finallyRead More Mother-daughter Relations and Clash of Cultures in Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club2470 Words   |  10 Pages     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Amy Tan is an American Born Chinese, daughter of immigrants, and her family shares many features with the families depicted in her novels. Tans novels offer some glimpses of life in China while developing the themes of mother-daughter relations, cultural adaptation and women with a past.   Tan’s novels share many themes and elements, but this paper will focus mainly on two episodes of the novel The Joy Luck Club: The Joy Luck Club and Waiting Between the Trees; and will make referencesRead MoreAmy Tan s The Joy Luck Club986 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"Then you must teach my daughter this same lesson. How to lose your innocence but not your hope. How to laugh forever†, Amy Tan wrote in The Joy Luck Club. This powerful quote not only exhibits the mindset that Amy has formed over the years, but also how various lessons has shaped her inner-being. Overcoming a past were all the odds were against her, even her mother, leaves Tan’s story worth be ing heard. 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Court Proceeding Against Petitioners at the Women Health...

Procedural History: The Petitioners, who were antiabortion, Madsen and other protesters regularly protested the Respondent which is the Women Health Center in Melbourne, Florida. The Women’s Health center sought and was granted by a trial court and injunction on several outcomes, which restrained the Petitioners’ ability to protest. The Petitioner’s appeal to the Supreme Court which claimed that the injunction restricted the protester’s right of free speech that was protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution. Statements of Facts: Judy Madsen and other protesters (the Petitioners) protest abortion clinics run by the Women’s Health Center (the Respondents). The protesters picketed and gave some sidewalk counseling outside the†¦show more content†¦Issues: What is the appropriate standard of review for evaluating on free speech aimed at protecting the rights of women seeking abortion services? Do the expanded provisions of the injunction protecting the immediate surroundings of the clinic unconstitutionally restrict petitioner’s free speech rights? Do the restrictions establishing a buffer zone around the homes of clinic staff violated the First Amendment? Answers of Holdings: Due to the consent-neutral restriction, the Court determined that the terms of the injunction should be in which determining whether they burden no more speech than is necessary to serve important state interests. The restrictions was upheld and overturned in some parts. The Court found that the 36 foot buffer zone and the noise restrictions for the private property around the clinic, then the 300 feet no approach zone, the protections around the clinic staff homes, and then the objectionable imagery provision, claiming it restricted more speech than was necessary to protect important state interests. Reasoning: Chief Justice Rehnquist explained that the restrictions at issue were content-neutral. 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Tribal Women in Chipko Movement free essay sample

The women who participated in the Chipko meetings, processions and other programmes have become aware of their potentialities and are now demanding a share in the decision-making process at the community level. Apart from Reni, the events at Dongri Paintoli village indicated a new development in the movement. On 9th February, 1980 the women of Dongri Paintoli turned out in large numbers, held a Chipko demonstration and prevented any tree-felling. Nine days later, the Government ordered the forest-felling in that area stopped, and within a month a ban on any further cutting was effected. Subsequently, women leaders in the village were defamed and asked not to attend further meetings. The women in Reni took action only because there were no men in the village around to do so. Their â€Å"action† was to ask the tree-fellers to wait until their men returned so that some discussions could take place between the two sides (of men) as equals. Women took charge of the scene only in the absence of men, but once they did take charge, they succeeded. In Dongri Paintoli, by contrast, rather than merely taking a decision in the absence of men, the women stood up against decisions made by their own men. Although they faced opposition from men, they held to their conviction. This certainly marked a major step forward in terms of women’s role in the Chipko movement. In Gopeshwar, women have now formed a cooperative of their own, the Mahila Mangal, to ensure protection of the forest around the town. Its work is carried out regularly by watchwomen, who receive regular wages. Under this supervision, the extraction of forest produce for daily necessities is accomplished in a regular manner, so as not to harm the trees. Women or men violating these rules are fined, and these fines are deposited in a common fund. Those who do not obey the rules face the punishment of having their tools confiscated. It can only be said that the cases of Reni and Dongri Paintoli and the organization of women into the Mahila Mangal at Gopeshwar are indicative of the latent potentialities in the organization and mobilization of resources by women whose consciousness has been raised. Women’s participation in Chipko movement, however limited in numbers or in its impact on the general way of life, has implications for possible changes in gender relationships in the Garhwali tribal society. Since tribal women are the gatherers of fuel, fodder and water, it is they who feel the first impact of soil erosion. Women had repeatedly challenged administrators and politicians with their slogans: â€Å"Planning without fodder, fuel and water is one-eyed planning. † Their struggle against injustice brought them into direct confrontation with the men. Gaura Devi, the famous leader, had to tolerate continuous harassment. First the contractor tried to bribe her into letting his men enter the forest. When she refused this offer, the forest department personnel threatened to call the police and arrest her. The contractor in league with some villagers composed folk songs describing the arrest of Gaura Devi and her torture in jail. Chipko women activists are being accused of getting the villagers blacklisted. The men said that since the villages were blacklisted due to the behavior of women, the young men, most of whom were in the army, would not be given employment anywhere, and the villages would not be supplied with essential commodities like salt and kerosene. Also the villages would be deprived of a motor road, electricity, hospital. The women activists are being made the villains of the piece and rumor is being used as a weapon to isolate them. Everyday the men returned home and flinged accusations at the women. This constant harassment within the family caused the women immense mental agony. According to Gayatri Devi, the success of the Chipko movement demonstrates the intellectual superiority of the women over the men in the village. In 1980s, the Chipko movement subsided, with only a small section associated with Bahuguna continuing to protest against the construction of the Tehri dam. However, part of Chipko critique thinks that government policy in the Uttar Pradesh hills was insensitive to the region’s ecological and social specificity and was driven by the concern to maximize revenues which were appropriated by a bureaucracy based in the plains, formed the core of a movement for regional autonomy. 4 This movement for a separate state raged throughout the 1980s and 1990s and was marked by a series of public protest rallies and demonstrations, some of which were violently suppressed by the state (most notably the brutal assault on women protestors at Muzaffarnagar in 1994). The state of Uttaranchal was finally carved out of the hill districts of Uttar Pradesh in 2000. The Chipko movement inspired Vandana Shiva for the development of a new theory called as ‘Ecofeminism’ which specifically explains the link between the ‘women and ecology’ which were in great demand in the market. To be clearer, Vandana Shiva’s Ecofeminist Movement brought imperialism inscribed in the colonial practices, into the centre of the Environmentalist debate. Vandana Shiva’s narratives of Chipko centre on women. She draws the village women of Garhwal into her narratives by binding them to Himalayan forests and nature, not because they are their birthright but through the ‘feminine principle’ which exists in both Women and Nature. She has presented the village women of Garhwal as exploited by colonialism and threatened by modernization and economic development. Chipko is, for Shiva, a women’s ecology movement, a resurgence of women’s power. Chipko women were in against of exploiting forest for timber because they valued forests for providing their simple subsistence; they did not care for economic gain. Forests, for them, provide soil, water and pure air. In 1977, she states, the two paradigms of forestry, one life-destroying (commerce-oriented and masculine) and the other life-enhancing (subsistence-oriented and embodying the feminine principle), clashed, following which Chipko became â€Å"explicitly an ecological and feminist movement†. Shiva asserts that Chipko women are against development, modernization, and economic rationality. According to her, they expect nothing from so called ‘development’ or from the money economy. They only wanted to preserve their autonomous control over their subsistence base, their common property resources: the land, water, forests, and hills. Chipko movement is thus very much a feminist movement. It not only has brought forth in a dramatic manner greatly increased understanding of the divergent interests of local communities and state bureaucracies in the management of local resources; it is now finding that the interests of men and women within the same community can differ greatly. As long as the Chipko movement remains sensitive to this learning process, it is bound to grow in strength. Ramchandra Guha is widely regarded as one of India’s leading environmental historians. In his well known book5 he argues that while Chipko may have involved women, adopted Gandhian non-violent strategies, and raised popular awareness towards environmental problems in the Himalayas, it is neither an environmental, nor Gandhian, nor feminist movement. He holds that, in Uttarakhand the participation of women in popular movements dates from the anti alcohol agitations led by Sarvodaya workers in the 1960s. However, despite the important role played by women, it would be simplistic to characterize Chipko as a feminist movement. In several instances, especially the early mobilizations at Mandal and at Phata, it was men who took the initiative in protecting forests. Women came to the fore in Reni, when in the contrived absence of men folk they unexpectedly came forward to thwart forest felling. In other agitations, such as Badyargarh men, women, children have all participated equally. Dongri-Paintoli is the only instance of an overt conflict between men and women over the management and control of forest resources. As such, even at level of participation Chipko can hardly be said to constitute a women’s movement. Undoubtedly, the hill women have traditionally borne an extraordinarily high share of family labour –and their participation in Chipko may be read as an outcome of the increasing difficulty with which these tasks have been accomplished in the deteriorating environment. Interestingly, Chandi Prasad Bhatt does believe that women are capable of playing a more dynamic role than the men who, in the face of growing commercialization, are apt to lose sight of the long-term interests of the village economy. On the other hand, it has been suggested that which they are the beasts of burden as viewed through the prism of an outside observer, hill women are in fact aware that they are the repository of local tradition. In the orbit of the household women often take decisions which are rarely challenged by the men. In the act of embracing the trees, therefore, they are acting not merely as women but as bearers of continuity with the past in a community threatened with fragmentation. Chipko movement as a constructive resistance to ecological struggle is played out in Nina Sibal’s Yatra: The Journey. The protagonist, Krishna Kaur, embarks on a pilgrimage for environmental justice that takes her through the area where the Chipko movement is active; there she received the secret of angwaltha from the Chipko women, their spirit of love reaching her as she walked through the Deva Bhumi of Uttarakhand and her padyatra. The novel begins with Krishna’s return to India from an activist-business trip to London: her short visit had been useful in terms of the contact she had made in the Forestry Commission and an international environmental foundation has committed funds for an important river project in the Garhwal hills. But environmental concerns are rarely mentioned by the author. The novel foregrounds gender issues in the Chipko movement. It says –â€Å"After all, at its heart, the Chipko Movement is very feminist. It consists essentially of a string of spontaneous confrontations triggered and managed by women of the region, in which none of the so-called leaders were present. In some cases they were struggling against their own men who saw their immediate economic interests tied up with the decisions of the district administration†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..