Planning principles and assessment of transformational adaptation: towards a refined ethical approach

ABSTRACT

The call for deliberate transformational adaptation (TA) has increased over the last decade. However, a challenge many planners face is the lack of clarity on the norms and principles for designing and implementing such adaptation and the ethical value systems for assessing their significance. This paper contributes to the debate on planning principles, strategies and values underpinning TA. Drawing on consequentialist and deontological value theories and a review of 147 journal articles, we explore the embedded ethics and the defining traits of TA. We found that utilitarian ethics informed both discourse and practice and the majority of papers published on TA focussed on scale of outcome, pathways and speed of change. Yet, this does little to address issues of justice, equity and sustainability which are compelling reasons for transforming current adaptation patterns. To address this problem, we propose a refined deontological framework that goes beyond the focus on the scale of change in material outcomes to changes in values and organizing principles that govern society. We offer eight guiding principles to aid planners in implementing this new framework but argue that ultimately, desired transformation occurs through collective design, intentionality and political negotiation.

KEYWORDS:

• Adaptation
• ethics
• planning principles
• sustainability
• transformation
• values

Acknowledgement

We like to thank Michael Egge, PhD student at Portland State, for research support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Idowu Ajibade is an Assistant Professor in Geography Department at Portland State University. She is an urban geographer interested in environment–society interactions. Her research focuses on the political and ecological implications of climate change adaptation, resilience planning, and societal transformation.

Ellis Adjei Adams is an Assistant Professor at the Global Studies Institute at Georgia State University. He is a human geographer interested in society–water relations. His research in the past decade has addressed questions related to how institutions, governance, and socio-political factors influence access to water and sanitation in urban areas of sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the informal settlements.

ORCID

Idowu Ajibade http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9767-0435

Notes

1 There is nothing inherent in a deontological approach that precludes the evaluation of outcomes. Similarly, consequentialism also does not completely exclude the application of ethical and rule-based decision making (Moore, 2008; Regan, 1980).

 

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this research was provided by Portland State University.