Silences, categories and black-boxes: Towards an analytics of the relations of power in planning regulation

Abstract

Regulation is often considered as an arena of conflicts, where power is exercised by the state or developers. This article looks beyond this to consider how power operates in a distributed way through the relationships of the regulatory process. It develops a theoretical framing drawing on Foucauldian and Actor–Network Theory perspectives that emphasises the securing of consent, performativity and the interrelation of knowledge and power . Using research into the regulation of major renewable energy infrastructure, it develops an analytics of power looking at silences, categorisation and black-boxing. This shows how power is operationalised through regulatory practice, so that local communities’ concerns are only partially heard, differential attention is paid to project impacts and knowledge claims are selectively warranted as an evidence-base.

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