Planning Theory· 2026Q1
Reconstructing the evolution of the dominant story of ‘Holwerd aan Zee’: A memetic analysis of planning narratives
- 0citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
A memetic analysis of the 'Holwerd aan Zee' planning initiative reveals dominant stories evolve through shifting prominence of co-existing ideas (memes), not linear replacement.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Dominant stories in planning evolve through shifting prominence of co-existing ideas (memes).
- The 'Holwerd aan Zee' planning initiative's narrative evolution was analyzed using a memetic perspective.
- 13 influential ideas (memes) were identified and their shifting configurations tracked.
- Narrative coherence is constructed, maintained, and transformed over time through these meme dynamics.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
This study adopts a memetic perspective to examine how dominant stories evolve in collaborative planning processes. Using documents and interview data from a long-term planning initiative in the northern Netherlands, a five-layered framework identifies 13 influential ideas, understood as memes, and traces how their shifting configurations shaped stakeholder interaction, meaning-making and decision-making. The findings show that dominant stories evolve not through linear narrative replacement but through shifting prominence among partially overlapping, co-existing memes, temporarily stabilized in distinct narrative configurations. The paper offers planning scholars a more granular analytical vocabulary for studying how narrative coherence is constructed, maintained and transformed over time.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Planning Theory, 2026 · DOI ↗
Continue with a free account
Ask the paper: 3 free questions a day about this paper; save it, get its citation, new summaries every day for your field. Takeaways are Premium.
Continue free on the webSign in with Google or Apple; no card needed. You come back to this paper.
On your phone:
Field: Urban Studies
Urban StudiesSocial Sciences