Towards a new planning paradigm? Reflections on New Zealand's Resource Management Act

Abstract

The Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) provides a new statutory framework for environmental planning in New Zealand. The new Act signals a paradigmatic shift in planning ideology, and perhaps practice. The change is from a "town and country' mode, which was embedded in the wider political economy of the welfare state, to a new biophysical and technocentric planning ethos. This paradigmatic shift is seen as worrying in that it may signal a dilution of social and economic equity considerations. The analysis of the paper has three parts. The first is a description of the system of urban planning which prevailed in New Zealand until the enactment of the RMA in 1991. The second section is a revie..