From growth machine to growth management: the dynamics of resort development in Whistler, British Columbia

In North America, competition for land has often been conceptualized as bei ng driven by growth machines whereby those with common stakes in developmen t form coalitions of local elites to influence government in pursuit of the ir goals. The inequitable benefits of growth have been challenged more rece ntly by the introduction of growth-management practices that heighten the r ole of local residents in land-use decisions. In this paper, the concepts o f the 'growth machine' and 'growth management' are applied to an examinatio n of the resort community of Whistler, British Columbia. This approach tran sforms previous theorizations of resort formation which draw upon Butler's (1980) life-cycle model, by focusing on the social and political dynamics o f growth. Whistler is seen to progress through a phase of uncontested growt h-machine dominance, to a phase of local contestation that is then moderate d by the introduction of growth-management practices. The evolutionary proc ess is seen as a cumulative one in which, over time, social and environment al imperatives are imposed upon the economic imperatives of the growth mach ine.