Is Joel Kotkin The Anti-Planner?

Los Angeles pundit Joel Kotkin's most recent diatribe about the alleged "Manhattanization" of Los Angeles has put Bill Fulton over the edge. Kotkin's arguments are old, tired and contradictory, says Fulton.

1 minute read

August 24, 2007, 7:00 AM PDT

By Christian Madera @http://www.twitter.com/cpmadera


"Increasingly, it seems that the only thing we can count on Kotkin for – in newspaper op-eds, anyway – is to disagree with the conventional wisdom, no matter what it is. In fact, as time goes on, Kotkin – ever the contrarian – seems to spend more and more time disagreeing with planners and commentators who mostly agree with him.

"In the last few years, he's fallen deeper and deeper into the trap of being a contrarian for its own sake." In fact, what's happening in Los Angeles is exactly what Kotkin has called for repeatedly: the creation of a series of core areas and activity centers strung across the landscape.

Thanks to Paul Shigley

Tuesday, August 21, 2007 in California Planning & Development Report

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

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