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Explaining the use of planning consultants in O ntario cities
Author(s) -
Momani Bessma,
Khirfan Luna
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
canadian public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.361
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1754-7121
pISSN - 0008-4840
DOI - 10.1111/capa.12027
Subject(s) - phenomenon , business , public relations , functionalism (philosophy of mind) , urban planning , marketing , political science , psychology , engineering , physics , quantum mechanics , civil engineering , cognitive science
Consulting firms providing policy advice to governments is a widespread phenomenon. This article asks why municipalities employ urban planning consultant firms to advise on public sector projects. Municipal employees from 19 mid‐sized O ntario cities responded to online survey questionnaires asking for their opinions on why urban planning consultant firms are hired by their cities. In testing four hypotheses, this study found functionalism (the need for expertise because of a lack of in‐house talent or time) to be the strongest explanation for this phenomenon. In addition to a lack of staff time and resources, the ideational hypothesis — perceived specialized knowledge and expertise of consultants — was also found to be relevant.