Main entry:

Throgmorton, James A.

Title & Author:

Planning as persuasive storytelling : the rhetorical construction of Chicago's electric future / James A. Throgmorton.

Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, ©1996.

Description:

xxiii, 313 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Series:

New practices of inquiry

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 277-300) and index.
The irony of modernist planning -- The argumentative or rhetorical turn in planning -- The modernist institution and rhetoric of regulated natural monopoly -- Commonwealth Edison's ambitious nuclear power expansion plan, 1973-1986 -- The best deal for Illinois consumers? Assessing Commonwealth Edison's "Negotiated settlement" -- Edison completes its nuclear power expansion plan, but who will pay for the last of It? -- Precinct captains at the nuclear switch? Exploring Chicago's electric power options -- Survey research as a trope in electric power planning arguments -- Precinct captains at the nuclear switch? The mayor's hand turns up empty -- Frozen in a passionate embrace: allocating pain, allocating blame -- The Plateau in the web: planning as persuasive storytelling within a web of relationships.

Summary:

"Planning as Persuasive Storytelling is a revealing look at the world of political conflict surrounding the Commonwealth Edison Company's ambitious nuclear power plant construction program in northern Illinois during the 1980s. Examining the clash between the utility, consumer groups, community-based groups, the Illinois Commerce Commission, and the City of Chicago, Throgmorton argues that planning can best be thought of as a form of persuasive storytelling. A planner's task is to write future-oriented texts that employ language and figures of speech designed to construct constituencies that the planner's vision is both desirable and feasible. Though seeking to persuade, the planner must also remain open to transformation through honest engagement with contending stories. Juxtaposing stories about efforts to construct Chicago's electric future, Planning as Persuasive Storytelling suggests a shift in how we think about planning. In order to account for the fragmented and conflicted nature of contemporary American life and politics, that shift would be away from "science" and the "experts" and toward persuasive storytelling by diverse authors"--Page 4 of cover.

Resources:
Table of contents
Publisher description
Donor bookplate
Publisher description
Table of contents

ISBN:

0226799638 (alk. paper)
9780226799636 (alk. paper)
0226799646 (pbk. ; alk. paper)
9780226799643 (pbk. ; alk. paper)

Subject:

Commonwealth Edison Company.
Electric utilities Illinois Chicago Metropolitan Area.
Electric power Illinois Chicago Metropolitan Area Planning.
Services publics d'électricité Illinois Chicago, Agglomération de.
Électricité Illinois Chicago, Agglomération de Planification.
Electric power Planning
Electric utilities
Bürgerbeteiligung
Energieversorgung
Kernkraftwerk
Stadtplanung
Illinois Chicago Metropolitan Area
Chicago, Ill.

Added entries:

New practices of inquiry.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 269200
Call No.: BIB 201326
Notes: pbk.
Status: Available