Article on Megaprojects and Postmodernism

Article on Megaprojects and Postmodernism

By Dr Rodney Turner
London School of Economics

Project management has traditionally been based on a modernist perspective.  However, since the 1960s, postmodernism has been proposed as an alternative view.  Postmodernism does not replace modernism, but overlays alternative choices.  In this article I explore what a postmodernist perspective means for megaprojects.  I discuss the differences between modernism and postmodernism, and then discuss some of the consumer choices that emerge from a postmodernist view.  I then describe some of the consequences of postmodernism for megaprojects.  As an example I use the project HS2 in the UK.  Projects need to do marketing, (Turner & Lecoeuvre, 2017), and the best way to do marketing is be telling stories.  I discuss why that is and how projects can tell stories.  In the last section, I discuss a related issue relating to external stakeholders.  Megaprojects can destroy communities and cause people to lose their identities, which can have severe psychological impacts.

[read the full article here]

[click here for the presentation]