Paper short abstract:

Planning projects are controversial processes, performed by diverse (non-)human actors in hybrid practices. Taking the case of the planning and implementation process of an intra-urban bus system, this paper discusses controversies of models being assembled and put into socio-material practice.

Paper long abstract:

Modifications are an integral part of planning projects and often go along with controversies. Controversies evolve in hybrid forums and can act as effective apparatuses for exploring social and technical uncertainties (Callon et al. 2001). In order to understand planning and implementation processes, we need to ask: How are plans assembled and what happens when models are put into socio-material practice, when they interact with the social and built environment?

Within the prolonged process of planning and implementing the intra-urban bus system Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit (DART) since the early 2000s, numerous controversies on the material and operational emerged. Debates are ongoing, especially on the operational design of the system and the question whether local transport actors or international public-private partnerships should provide service. In contrast, the initial design of the physical infrastructure - described by actors in Dar es Salaam as a 'copy' of the so-called best-practice model TransMilenio from Bogotá - has not been changed extensively.

The controversial assembling of DART shows the complexities of planning and implementing projects. Through following the temporal, physical and spatial traces of DART, we come closer to the research object itself. Thereby we see DART as an assemblage of materials and objects, knowledge and ideas. DART is a discursive and political process, which is shaping the city and is being shaped by the city.