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LP/HC and LULUs: The Political Uses of Risk Analysis in Land‐Use Planning 1
Author(s) -
Popper Frank J.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
risk analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1539-6924
pISSN - 0272-4332
DOI - 10.1111/j.1539-6924.1983.tb01394.x
Subject(s) - land use planning , land use , politics , environmental planning , business , risk analysis (engineering) , political science , economics , public economics , engineering , law , environmental science , civil engineering
This paper examines how LP/HC (low‐probability/high‐consequence) risk analysis is used in planning for locally unwanted land uses, or LULUs. LULUs are development projects that are predictably objectionable to many of their neighbors. Examples are nuclear power plants, hazardous waste facilities, refineries, and airports. The paper begins by elaborating the idea of LULUs, focussing on those whose planning typically requires or invokes some form of LP/HC risk analysis. It then discusses how land planning and planners actually use the LP/HC approach to deal with LULUs. It argues that in practice land‐use planners and their associates employ a concept of risk different from that of economists, scientists, and engineers and more like that of political decision‐makers and the public at large. It concludes with a political interpretation that offers some suggestions for productively reducing this divergence in the treatment of LULUs that pose LP/HC risks.