What is 'quality'? Zen and the art of resource management reform

Abstract

In the 1974 best-seller Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, the narrator tied himself up in philosophical and existential knots trying to define “quality”. The proposed Natural and Built Environments Act (NBA) offers the opportunity for resource practitioners to promote environmental “quality”, presumably with less angst and more clarity. This is because the report of the Resource Management Review Panel on New Directions for Resource Management in New Zealand (the ‘Randerson Report’) advanced “quality” in its draft purpose for the NBA: (1) The purpose of this Act is to enhance the quality of the environment to support the wellbeing of present and future generations and to recognise the concept of Te Mana o te Taiao [at p483]. However, the key word “quality” was left undefined in the proposed NBA definitions in the Randerson Report [pp485-489]. Given its central importance and need for clarity to practitioners, this void may only be welcomed by Zen philosophers.