Does Non-Planning Work?

Paul Barker writes about his friend and architect Cedric Price (1934-2003), who advocated "the concept of an 'anticipatory architect' who would give people the freedom to control and shape their own environment; all buildings should allow for obsolescence and complete changes of use... [Barker and Price] collaborated on Non-Plan, an anti-planning polemic, which infuriated architects, planners and assorted do-gooders. The idea emerged during a conversation [with] Peter Hall, geographer and planner, in the late 1960s. [The three were] appalled at the disasters that urban planning had brought about [and] wondered if things could be any worse if there were no planning at all... [Price] suggested carrying out a Non-Plan test. Four districts should be freed from all controls... in the London Docklands. Without it, there would be no Canary Wharf..."

Thanks to Chris Steins