Ten Principles of Post-Peak Planning

The first century of urban planning in North America took place with a certain set of background assumptions. Chief among these is that energy is cheap and abundant and there's more of it every year. When that cheap energy is gone, the assumptions and the principles of planning are going to be turned on their ear.

"Peak Oil is expected any time from last week to 2020, and buildings last for decades. So anything built today is going to spend most (if not all) of its service life in an environment where energy in general and oil in particular is a lot more expensive and scarce than it is today. And it has to be evaluated on that basis, not on today's conditions. So that big-box retail Power Center maybe seems like a good idea today, under current conditions when people can be expected to drive in from four counties to shop. But raise the cost of gasoline enough-double or triple it, let alone ten times-and that parking lot is going to be empty a lot of the time."

Thanks to Tim Moerman