Fatal remedies: the sources of ineffectiveness in planning

The ex post facto evaluation of individual plans and planning systems, which is widely accepted as an important means to improvement of the planning task, is a difficult and generally poorly managed task. An alternative path to better planning lies in anticipating sources of planning failure and taking steps to avoid them. One approach to the study of planning pathology is offered by Sieber's classification of mechanisms by which the hoped-for effects of public policy in general are converted to frequently unintended and disastrous outcomes. Using Australian case studies, Sieber's ideas on functional disruption, exploitation, goal displacement, provocation, classification, over commitment and placation are shown to have much relevance to planning. Considerable overlap is demonstrated between Sieber's mechanisms and those discussed by Hall in Great Planning Disasters, though the lists are arguably incomplete. Planning, in particular, is prone to information problems and suffers from the fluidity of the decision-making environment.