title: Voices heard and unheard : an exploration of community acceptance and resistance of lower-Carbon energy infrastructure
title: Voices heard and unheard : exploring acceptance and resistance of lower-Carbon infrastructure
titleType: AlternativeTitle
Creators: name: Anderson, Carmel Anne
Publisher: name: The Australian National University
Year: 2015

description: For governments looking to reduce the effects of climate change, the energy sector, which is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, is a key focus. Consequently, governments and energy companies are increasingly aiming to establish lower-carbon energy infrastructure. In some communities lower-carbon infrastructure developments proposed during planning are accepted with relative ease while in others they are resisted. This can lead to community conflict and the delay or abandonment of lower-carbon infrastructure developments, impeding the implementation of climate change policy. The aim of this thesis is to provide an in-depth understanding about why and how some local communities accept and others resist lower-carbon infrastructure. This aim is addressed through three qualitative case studies of local communities. The first two case studies were conducted in the same rural community. The first explores the acceptance of a carbon capture and storage project. The second explores resistance to a windfarm. The third case explores an urban community's resistance to a gas-fired power station. The three case studies occurred during the public participation phase of the planning process. Previous research has shown that it is during public participation, when communities first hear about a development, that responses to acceptance and resistance to lower-carbon infrastructure emerge. Consequently, public participation is the practice frame through which the case studies are explored. The concept of social capital, although contested, forms the analytical framework in this thesis. The framework provides an opportunity to explore the phenomena of acceptance and resistance and the social settings that produce them. Adaptive theory guides the methodological approach. It complements the use of the analytical framework by enabling the production of new theory through the iterative inductive and deductive analysis of data and theory. As a result of this process, the theory of place attachment complements the social capital analysis in the third case study to explain certain social phenomena. By analysing the social characteristics of the case studies, this thesis contributes to three areas of knowledge. The first is in improving understanding of why and how local communities accept and resist lower-carbon infrastructure. I found that during public participation individuals in the second and third cases activated their social capital resources to form social networks that resisted lower-carbon infrastructure. However, where these resources were depleted owing to interpersonal community conflict, as in the first case study, no new social network developed during public participation through which community views could be collectively conveyed. Depleted social capital in this case also explains the passive acceptance of carbon capture and storage. The second is that through this knowledge, lessons for the design and implementation of public participation processes are provided. I found that public participation practices informed by community social capital and place attachment characteristics could reduce conflict and improve opportunities for more equitable participation. Finally, the third contribution is to current knowledge of the social capital concept. A cross-case analysis of the two resistance cases informs theory on the lifecycle of social networks during public participation.