'Top-down' and 'bottom-up' influences on renewable energy development: District plans and the regulation of wind farms in New Zealand

Abstract

This thesis examines provisions for wind farms in three district plans to explore how anthropogenic climate change is being responded to within New Zealand’s planning system under the Resource Management Act 1991. The dire prognosis in the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change begs action to mitigate the worst effects of future climate change. Renewable electricity is part of the solution for the goal of transitioning to low-carbon society. Regulation of wind farming activity is a subset of this challenge.

Within New Zealand, relatively few district plans contain provisions for managing wind farms and those that do are different to each other. Planning legislation enables a mixture of ‘conformance-based’ and ‘consultation’ approaches in delegating the task of preparing district plans to local communities. ‘Top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ influences are explored in analysing how local resource allocation priorities and national goals influence district plan preparation. Opportunities for improving policy guidance on managing wind farm development are identified.

Positivist science demonstrates the problem of increasing concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases and its analysis as anthropogenic in origin. Literature on socio-technical transitions and multi-level governance guides the study. A critical-constructivist lens on the role of the public sphere in decision-making provides a useful counterpoint in understanding top-down and bottom-up motivations involved in assessing how district planning within New Zealand’s multi-level governance system may address anthropogenic climate change issues.