Decision-making, values, and discursive moments in alternative futures landscape planning

Abstract

The nature of decision-making within Alternative Futures landscape planning and how it shapes the planning process and outcomes is investigated. Alternative Futures is an increasingly widely used landscape planning technique that connects science and values to landscape management decisions in conditions of uncertainty. Although typically characterized as a rational planning process that separates deliberation from decision-making, a different interpretation employing concepts from deliberative planning identifies seven critical time periods, termed Discursive Moments, when deliberation and decision-making are inextricably linked. Analysis of two Alternative Futures projects in the U.S. Mountain West suggests three research findings that clarify the nature of the decisions and the roles of actors and institutions in the planning process.