PREVALENCE AND INSTIGATORS OF NIMBYISM - ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR PLANNING PROCEDURES

Abstract

NIMBY, an acronym form from 'Not In My Backyard' is the term given to local opposition to 'development' proposals that are perceived as a threat to their environment. This research is conducted to understand the prevalence and instigators of NIMBYism in our society and the application of this understanding towards planning procedures, particularly in the area of public participation The objective of this study is to determine if it's logical to persist with our current practice of 'top-down planning' as oppose to delegating more responsibility to the people through a bottom-up manner of planning. The hypotheses formulated for purpose of this study are as follows: - 1) Public opposition towards an undesirable facility is dictated by distance. 2) Public opposition is affected by perceived level of risk associated with the facility. 3) The strength of opposition is dependent on extent of interest the subject has in the property. A sample survey is used to obtain empirical results on the attitudes and concerns of the population towards undesirable facilities, after which, an exploratory data analysis is conducted with the help of the SPSS software package to understand the relationship between variables used in this study. Interviews are conducted, with the help of questionnaires, to collect the data required for this research. The results collected from the analysis of data shows that there is a prevalence of NIMBYism in our society. The concerns raised by the opposition are thus considered in the study and recommendations are made to mitigate this phenomenon.