Planning as a Rhetorical Activity: Survey Research as a Trope in Arguments About Electric Power Planning in Chicago

James A. Throgmorton

62 citations0/0 files storedJournal of the American Planning Association

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Rhetoric and Communication Studies Urban Planning and Governance Linguistics and Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This paper proposes a rhetorical approach to planning, then applies it to the City of Chicago's effort from 1985 to 1991 to explore alternatives to remaining dependent on a single, privately owned electric utility. Arguing that surveys, models, and forecasts act as tropes (or rhetorical devices) in planning arguments, the paper focuses on a survey of Chicago businesses and their responses to the city's exploration of new energy planning options. It examines a meeting in which the survey researcher attempted to persuade a quasi-political task force of the accuracy of his survey “results.” The paper discusses how a rhetorical approach could improve the theory, pedagogy, and practice of planning.

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References

1990Survey research methods 1991The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity 1998Rhetoric of Economics 1982Planning in the Face of Power 2001The Fragility of Goodness 1990Evidence, argument, and persuasion in the policy process 1990Evidence, Argument, and Persuasion in the Policy Process.1981Is there a Text in this Class?

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