Moore, SM; (2012) Re-evaluating 'public' and 'private' in local development cultures: converging vocabularies of public good and market success in Toronto's New Urbanism. Town Planning Review , 82 (5) pp. 575-595. 10.3828/tpr.2012.35.

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Abstract

This paper queries the utility of the analytical categories of public and private in the development and planning processes of two New Urbanist communities in suburban Toronto, Canada. Through an analysis of the situated conditions under which these projects were planned and delivered, the paper demonstrates the extent to which the distinction between public interests and market forces is often exaggerated, and yet reproduced by the local development culture. Drawing on a critical review of theories of hybridity, this paper argues that ‘public’ and ‘private’ should not be reified as intrinsic actor categories, but rather problematised as key constructions through which development actors constitute, understand and reflect upon their ongoing activities and interactions. This approach shifts critical attention away from the issue of labelling toward the deeper questioning of how and why these constructions are mobilised in situated development processes. In the cases considered here, the distinct nature of the New Urbanist development process in Toronto’s suburban fringe compelled a shared normative language of public good and market success amongst a community of actors seeking to bring the projects to fruition, thus complicating traditionally assumed divisions of public and private actors, roles and motivations. The paper concludes by suggesting implications of this analysis for the general study of development processes.

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