Negotiating Development Control: Using Actor-Network Theory to Explore the Creation of Residential Building Policy

Abstract

This paper mobilises Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to produce a more detailed discussion of institutional interaction in planning negotiations. In this reading formal and informal institutions are theorised as actors and intermediaries enrolled for the purpose of securing planning policy. Thus, policy negotiation is a process of network translation where competing actors mobilise other actors and intermediaries to secure a policy closer to the objectives of their constituent networks. This paper explores the institutional relations and non-human actors that mediate the construction of a local council planning control centred on building quality and environmental condition – Development Control Plan 100 – Quality Housing (DCP100) – in the Wyong Shire, one of the fastest growing areas in Sydney, Australia.