A model of an urban decision-making process with respect to the development of Lebreton flats in Ottawa

This study examines the decision-making processes surrounding the planning of a new downtown community in Ottawa known as LeBreton Flats. The project is being developed by the federal government but given the requirement that it be carefully integrated with the region, a novel multi-jurisdictional planning forum has been created where all levels of government and other concerned interests have worked together. It is primarily within this forum that the analysis is undertaken. The paper initially defines the need for broader research methodologies into urban governmental decision-making processes based upon both theoretical and empirical grounds. From this, Graham T. Allison's multiple-model methodology developed for international politics in Essence of Decision, Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, (1971), is found to be adaptable to the urban governmental level. The application of this model to LeBreton Flats reveals significant insights into this decision-making process and in particular acknowledges the impact of bureaucratic and individual influences which have been present in the planning process.