Growth-management implementation in Metropolitan Vancouver: lessons from actor-network theory

Abstract

A case study is used to analyse metropolitan growth management implementation in Greater Vancouver, adding to a growing base of literature studying plan development and implementation through an actor-network theory (ANT) lens. It focuses on Metrotown, an office node initially designated in the Livable Region Plan and remaining regionally significant today. Unfortunately, Metrotown lost some momentum as business parks have seen more office growth in recent years. ANT's qualitative approach to inquiry is used to understand how and why this occurred. In ANT, an actor network emerges in response to any social goal, and is comprised of individuals, organisations, and inanimate artefacts including technologies, processes, laws, buildings, and infrastructure. In this case, the analysis emphasised how network fiuctuation impacted plan implementation, including efforts to stabilise and destabilise relationships through what Latour calls black boxes of varying types. It also examined both successful and unsuccessful enrolment strategies. The case suggests that regional and municipal actors possessed enrolment skills but were unable to make more use of them. Further case studies are recommended to enhance planners' skills in coping with fiuctuations and developing more effective enrolment strategies for implementation.

Socio-technical scales in socio-environmental modeling: Managing a system-of-systems modeling approach

“…Actors may embody collective culture and personalities, as may be the case with teams and organizations. ( Cresswell et al, 2010 ; Macy and Willer, 2002 ; Tate, 2013 ; Hobday et al, 2018 ; Schneider et al, 2013 ) Hierarchy/Level The ordered linkage crossing scales, which may be spatial/temporal (neighborhood to city) or virtual/conceptual (employee and employer), and these may be nested within one another. ( Ostrom, 2007 ; Schweiger et al, 2020 ; Steinhardt and Volk, 2001 ) …”

Analysis of a spatial network from the perspective of actor‐network theory

“…Actor‐network theory (ANT) is useful in the interpretation of the process of the formation of town spaces through urban regeneration, which is the aim of the current study (Dwiartama & Rosin, 2014; Müller & Schurr, 2016; Pratt, 2015; Tate, 2013). The reason is that ANT avoids hegemonic thoughts by suggesting the possibility of interpreting the spatiotemporal totality that surrounds complex networks more extensively and objectively; in this it becomes a new methodological tool for geological analysis (Du & Zhao, 2013; Murdoch, 1998; Pratt, 2015; Zha et al, 2019).…”

“…Van der Duim (2007) showed that tourism is a hybrid collective (i.e., a combination of heterogeneous actors, both human and non‐human (Callon, 2004) in perpetual movement, and that this network includes three components: actors, non‐human factors, and interaction associated with tourismscapes . This is based on the three principle elements of ANT, which are symmetry, the actor‐network, and translation (Latour, 2005; Law, 2004; Murdoch, 2006; Tate, 2013). Moreover, Paget et al (2010) conducted a case study based on ANT regarding how ski resort companies can succeed in the competitive environment in France.…”

“…He argued that “it claims that tourism analysis (like any other form of analysis) should come down to following the actors as they stitch networks together” (Van der Duim, 2007, p. 962). It should then be possible to observe the roots of association formed among heterogeneous factors including people, nature, and things (Latour, 2005; Tate, 2013).…”