Do Local Planning Processes Fuel NIMBYism? (Working Paper)

Place Identity, Risk Perception and Development Decision-Making in Three Suburban Communities

Author(s): Becker, Stacy
Publication Date: February 2010

25 pages; Inventory ID WP10SB1; English


Do Local Planning Processes Fuel NIMBYism?	654 KB

Abstract

NIMBY (short for Not In My Backyard) is a label often used for residents who oppose development near their homes, especially development plans that include greater density, affordable housing, or big box retail. NIMBYs are characterized as unable or unwilling to consider the larger societal benefits of a development project. This paper explores the hypothesis that residents who face new development feel that they incur intangible costs, specifically, threats to place identity. These go unrecognized in decision-making processes, leading local officials to be more optimistic than residents in judging the risks of development and net benefits. The failure to recognize intangible costs can also result in missteps when it comes to conducting public processes, raising the question of whether conventional public decision-making processes fuel NIMBYism. Discussions with residents in three Minnesota suburban communities lay open this possibility.