From Greenspace to Greenbelt: the Role of Civil Society in Landscape Protection in the Toronto Region
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From Greenspace to Greenbelt: The Role of Civil Society in Landscape Protection in the Toronto Region By Wendy Burton A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Geography University of Toronto © Copyright by Wendy Burton 2016 From Greenspace to Greenbelt: The Role of Civil Society in Landscape Protection in the Toronto Region Wendy Burton Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Geography University of Toronto 2016 Abstract Greenspace has been increasingly identified as an important element of environmental, social and economic health, yet proponents of greenspace protection from within civil society often find themselves with limited resources in political battles with powerful pro- growth coalitions. This was the case with the three citizen-led campaigns that managed to protect progressively larger landscapes in the Toronto region, culminating with the creation of a 1.8-million-acre greenbelt. How did they do this? This study uses qualitative methods and draws on institutionalism, participation theory, and social capital approaches to examine the evolution of environmental civil society groups and how they learned to exploit governance processes to persuade state actors to break with the status quo. The study looks at how cultural understandings, historical legacies, legal institutions, planning rules and public preferences shaped the landscape of the Toronto region. The research finds that citizen environmentalists were able to use their social capital resources ii as civil society groups to adapt governance structures – particularly public participation processes – to build a durable constituency for greenspace protection with payoffs for political actors. Particularly influential were: historical legacies of deploying natural solutions to prevent natural disasters, public participation exercises that were open to manipulation, bridging social capital that helped build large coalitions, and bonding social capital that helped coalition members unite and carry out strategies that included keeping the vision alive for decades as election cycles came and went, and, finally, protecting new state partners from criticism. However, state actors under the influence of the still-strong growth coalition remain reluctant stewards of the environment and have chosen implementation strategies that could undermine greenspace protection over time. The study adopts an inclusive definition of civil society and finds that a new typology based on two measures of social capital – inclusiveness and (private vs. public) interests – shows that certain groups are more useful in coalitions campaigning to expand public goods. The study also finds that difficulties in developing the social capital needed to develop working relationships in short-term stakeholder groups were overcome by resorting to selective membership and secret meetings. iii Preface I came to the formal study of geography late in life. But, in many ways, I was always a geographer, intensely interested in how local places worked. This fascination began as a survival mechanism living in a peripatetic family. Every time we moved, I struggled to fit in by trying to figure out what was good about the place I was now stuck in and what was to be avoided. While I discovered that nearly every place has its charms, I also learned that some places were definitely better than others. Some places just seemed to “work” better. As a sociology undergraduate, journalist and then activist, I looked for patterns, trying to figure out what people could do to make their places work better for all their residents. This led me eventually to graduate school, first in policy studies, then in geography, as I realized that my abiding interest was in what happened to people in the places where they lived. What did it take to make their communities livable and their governments responsive? I had been involved with a number of causes over the years when the environment became most salient for me. In my own neighbourhood, I could see that a favourite creek was drying up, algae was clogging up the lake near my home, and air pollution was hurting my family’s health. Like many people living on the boundary between suburb and countryside, I missed each woodlot that was clear cut and each farm that was sold to make way for more homes. It did not take long to see connections. As I did my own research, at first informally, I learned that the technical solutions for many of these problems were already known. There was science galore. So why were these solutions not adopted? What were the obstacles? How could they be overcome? As I worked as a foot soldier in various environmental and land use disputes, I re-learned lessons from my earlier career in journalism: what seems sensible to me may not seem sensible to others… short-term solutions are easier to accept and fund than long-term ones… some people have more power to affect their preferred solutions than others. But just when I thought I could predict the outcome by looking at the players, the game would turn out differently, sometimes in a good way, sometimes not. Sometimes the wrong people would get hurt, people whom nobody had considered had a stake in the outcome. As a result, my initial focus on the health of the natural environment became more realistic – incorporating a concern for financial and economic vigour – and broader – including a concern for the impacts of local decisions on other people and places, in the present and the future. The abstract interest I had had in sustainability since reading The Limits to Growth as an undergraduate – which had grown into worry during the oil crisis and alarm as we learned about peak oil and climate change – had finally merged with my personal life in such a way as to make formal study of the problem seem a sensible use of my time. iv For years, it seemed like the steamroller of suburban development – of a kind that harmed the environment and hurt taxpayers by leaving them with expensive infrastructure bills to pay and few public realm enhancements to balance their losses – had the upper hand in any land use dispute in Southern Ontario. But then the other side began to have some victories. This study is about how victories have been won and consolidated, in hopes of applying those lessons to problems of achieving sustainable development in a timely manner. My focus here is on the creation of a greenbelt – an area of protected greenspace – that came into being much more quickly and easily than its antecedents. The speed of the change, which was massive, is part of what interests me, since I think the ability to change more quickly might be important in the times to come. Also of interest to me is the choice of the greenbelt tool. Many voices had been asking and looking for ways to deal with urban sprawl. There had been discussion of many tools but greenbelts had not been explicitly mentioned. So how did it enter the policy discussion? Why a greenbelt, in this time and place, in this form? Were there purposeful actions taken that could be replicated to produce other solutions to the challenges of sustainable development? In pursuing these questions, I have enjoyed the support and mentorship of many people. Chief among them is my advisor, André Sorensen, whose optimism, collegiality and gentle prodding kept me going. His informal seminars for his advisees allowed me to explore new theories in a risk-free environment. My other committee members, Michael Bunce and Alan Walks, were unfailingly kind and patient. I am indebted to all the nameless librarians who have digitized documents, especially those who have found the pages missing from tattered hard copies in the library stacks. My colleagues in the department were welcoming and encouraging. As the wife of a politician, I also appreciated that “What happens in the ivory tower stays in the ivory tower” (to paraphrase a popular advertisement on television while I was studying and writing); the university has been the one place where I could speak my mind without worry. Finally, I have to thank my husband, Rob Burton, my personal IT guy, who was always proud of my work and who put up with my dogs Tessa and Willow, who kept me company throughout this long process. I also thank my children, Rachel, Sarah and Robbie Burton, who provided encouragement, diversion and help with household chores. I thank my father, Ernest Jackson, for instilling in me a love of learning and language; my mother, Jacquelyn Bradford Cox, for encouraging me to find music in unexpected places; and both of them for the example they set of receptiveness to different people and ideas. To Françoise Morissette and a host of friends and family members, thank you for rooting for me and sharing well-timed glasses of wine. In closing, it is my hope that people who seek a healthier, fairer future for all will find this research helpful. Wendy Burton Oakville, Ontario 2016 v Table of Contents Abstract ii Preface iv List of Tables ix List of Figures x Lists of Appendixes xi Notes to Readers xii 1 Introduction: 1 Staking Claims to Regional Greenspace 1 Grounds for Protection 1.1 Who or What is Civil Society? 1.2 Barriers to Greenspace Protection 1.3 Greenbelts as Government Projects 2 Prior Research 3 Research Questions 4 Contribution of this Research 5 Plan of the Study 2 Conceptual Framework: 23 Governance & Policy Change 1 Introduction 2 Governance 2.1 Institutions: Structures of Decision-Making 2.2 Interests: Actors, Resources