The Paradox of the Rational Comprehensive Model of Planning

This study explores the reasons why the failure to site and implement waste disposal facilities in the United States and Canada has become commonplace, using the example of waste environmental impact assessment (EIA) programs in Ontario, Canada. The inability of governments to site new waste disposal facilities can be traced to a slavish adherence to planning’s most common paradigm, the rational comprehensive model. The article also addresses whether the extensive public consultation programs associated with waste EIAs are effective. The study concludes with a discussion of how the communicative action of planning should be researched in waste management to develop more efficient and less socially divisive planning programs.