‘The Kāpiti Distressway’: A Sociological Case Study of Public Involvement in a Socio-Technical Controversy BY Morgan Jasper Hamlin A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Victoria University of Wellington 2016 2 Abstract This thesis examines public involvement in socio-technical controversies from a sociological perspective. Public engagement in science and technology is becoming increasingly important in societies where citizens are asked, and expected, to be involved with issues that have been dominated by experts. In New Zealand, a contemporary example of public participation in science and technology is the large-scale road building programme called the Roads of National Significance. The central aim of this thesis is to understand how the public engage with and create meaningful evaluations of complex issues that are associated with expert- driven politics and top-down decision-making processes. I examine the public’s involvement in the Kāpiti expressway project by discussing how locally-based groups evaluated and publicised it as an object of concern. Specifically, I investigate the demonstration and visual imagery technologies that were utilised to publicise the expressway as a public matter. I then explore how opponents translated their concerns with the environmental, political, and social aspects of the project as legal and technical issues. The second aim of this thesis is to contribute to the material turn in the human sciences by engaging with object-oriented (Barry, 2013; Latour, 2005a; Marres & Lezaun, 2011) and socio-cultural (Boltanski & Thévenot, 2006) approaches to public involvement in socio-technical controversies. The role that technologies play in materialising public participation and re-presenting the Kāpiti expressway project as an object of concern are examined. However, to create a dialogue between object-oriented and socio-cultural approaches to public dispute, I investigate the technologies of justification and criticism, and the cultural modes of evaluation that qualify people and things within moral vocabularies. I argue that the public were obliged to re-present the Kāpiti expressway as an object of concern by demonstrating how their personal objections were relevant to the legal and technical aspects of the project. A range of technological devices enabled local groups to evaluate the project during the early planning stages of the project, but convincing decision-makers to reject the expressway involved the difficult task of critiquing the planning process, and enrolling allies. This thesis uses a qualitative, case study approach to socio-technical controversies. I use interviews, qualitative observations, and documentary methods to examine the actions of locally-based groups and the modes of evaluation used to challenge the Kāpiti expressway project. 3 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisors Chamsy el-Ojeili and Mike Lloyd for their guidance and feedback. I would also like to thank my participants for their insight, time, and help with this project. Finally, the wonderful support from my parents, Amy, Demita, Gradon, Ian, Olly, Maree, Robyn, and the SACS students and staff has been invaluable. 4 Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. 3 List of Figures .......................................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter One: Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 9 1.1 Driving Through the Kāpiti Coast .................................................................................................. 9 1.2 Public Involvement in Socio-Technical Controversies ................................................................. 12 1.3 Research Aims, Objectives, Questions, and Argument ............................................................... 15 1.4 Theoretical Approach and Methodology .................................................................................... 17 1.5 Thesis Fly-Through ...................................................................................................................... 18 Chapter Two: Theoretical Approach ..................................................................................................... 20 2.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................. 20 2.2 Public Participation in Science and Technology: An Overview ................................................... 20 2.3 Public Participation and Representation ..................................................................................... 22 2.3.1 Public participation as political representation ................................................................... 22 2.3.2 Public participation, representation, and objects of concern .............................................. 25 2.4 The Material Turn in the Human Sciences and Sociological Theories of Dispute ....................... 29 2.5 Object-Oriented Theories of Dispute and the Pragmatic Sociology of Critique ......................... 34 2.6 Overview of Theoretical Approach and Key Concepts ................................................................ 38 2.7 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 39 Chapter Three: Methodology ................................................................................................................ 41 3.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................. 41 3.2 Epistemological Assumptions ...................................................................................................... 41 3.3 Case Study Design Frame ............................................................................................................ 44 3.3.1 The Kāpiti expressway as a case study ................................................................................. 47 3.3.2 Public involvement in the Kāpiti expressway controversy ................................................... 49 3.4 Qualitative Research Methods .................................................................................................... 51 3.4.1 Documentary research ......................................................................................................... 51 3.4.2 Semi-structured interviews and qualitative observations ................................................... 54 3.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 57 Chapter Four: A Road of National Concern ........................................................................................... 59 4.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................. 59 4.2 Public Involvement in the Kāpiti Expressway Project ................................................................. 60 4.3 The Social and Environmental Impacts of the Kāpiti Expressway ............................................... 62 5 4.4 The Kāpiti Expressway as a Political Issue ................................................................................... 68 4.5 The Board of Inquiry .................................................................................................................... 71 4.5.1: Social impact as an urban design issue ............................................................................... 72 4.5.2: Public consultation and social impact assessments ............................................................ 74 4.6 Conclusion: Public Involvement in Socio-Technical Controversies ............................................. 76 Chapter Five: M2PP or the Kāpiti ‘Distressway’ .................................................................................... 78 5.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................. 78 5.2 Protests and Demonstrations in Socio-Technical Controversies ................................................ 79 5.3 NZTA’s Demonstration Sites ........................................................................................................ 81 5.3.1 Demonstrating matters of fact: Public consultation ‘at a distance’ .................................... 82 5.3.2 Demonstrating matters of public concern: Face-to-face public consultation ..................... 84 5.4 Community Organised Demonstration Sites: Public Meetings and Protests .............................. 87 5.4.1 Community organised protests ............................................................................................ 90 5.5 The Limitations of Site-Specific Protests ..................................................................................... 95 5.6 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................