School of Geography - Theses
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ItemPlanning in Melbourne 1950-1985: the formation of professional ideologies( 1993)This is a study of Melbourne planners and their professional ideologies. The vehicle for this research is metropolitan strategy planning in Melbourne ranging from 1950 to 1985, performed by a public sector organisation called the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW). The subjects are a group of thirty planners who authored the strategic plans and documents produced during this time period. By linking theoretical and archival material with empirical data this research aims to develop an understanding of what constitutes professional ideologies in planning. Moreover, it examines the interplay between elements of professional ideologies and features of the context of planning, such as the political-economy, political and socio-cultural agendas, and the bureaucratic organisation. This is the first study of its kind in Australia, and it is hoped that it will make a useful contribution to developing a better and more 'grounded' understanding of planners' ideologies, and the relevance and practical usefulness of the various elements which comprise them in the day-to-day world of metropolitan strategy planning. This research has been conducted in an exploratory mode, that is, to understand and account for all the possible influences on professional ideology formation. At the theoretical level, the implications of adopting such an approach are such that both the major sociological traditions which have taken an interest in the professions (Weberian and Marxist), are reviewed. In the first section of this thesis, neo-Weberian perspectives on the professions are evaluated for their possible contribution to understanding the processes through which professional ideologies in planning have been formed and re-formed during the period under study. The central interest of neo-Weberian scholars with respect to the study of the professions, is professionalisation. This denotes the process by which an occupation or an activity establishes, or attempts to establish itself as a profession. The role, methods, and strategies of the Royal Australian Planning Institute in developing and promoting its particular construction of a professional ideology in planning is investigated through the analysis of archival and documentary material. This is followed by a review of neo-Marxist perspectives on the professions, again with the aim of establishing what further contributions they make to our understanding of ideologies in planning. Relationships which are investigated include those between planning and the state, between planning's professional ideologies and the 'dominant' ideology, and between planning and the processes of class formation. One of the most salient propositions of this perspective - that 'functional' relationships exist between planners' ideologies and 'the role of planning', ensconced as it is within the capitalist state - is rendered into an empirical investigation. Explored are possible relationships between planners' ideologies, the strategic plans and policies they developed, and the political and economic context of planning in Melbourne during the period 1950 - 1985. It is argued that although both neo-Weberian and neo-Marxist perspectives have important contributions to make to a study such as this, there is a need to extend the concepts, relationships, and questions they embody at a 'middle level' of theorising. At such a level, it is possible to integrate our understanding of the dominant economic, social, and political processes, with what is known about the individual's (i.e. planner's) experience of these. Planners' ideologies comprise elements such as: planning knowledge, educational socialisation, planners' professional associations, professional values and beliefs, and ethics. Much of the empirical work is directed at examining the role of these elements in the construction of the individual planner's 'world view' about their own planning and about planning in general. An extensive interview and questionnaire process was carried out amongst a group of planners who had worked with the MMBW at various stages during the period 1950 - 1985, and at various levels of the organisational hierarchy. However, importance is also placed on understanding how individual planner's professional ideologies intermesh with or are integrated into other ideological practices and positions. Such relationships can be understood through examining the interplay between the constitutive elements of professional ideologies and the context features of planning. This research describes the political, economic, socio-cultural and organisational circumstances of metropolitan strategy planning in Melbourne 1950-1985. It also describes their role in creating the dissonance which was observed between certain elements of planners' ideologies and the representation of these in their work.