The sometimes decades-long gap between cause and effect makes it difficult to reverse long-standing transportation & planning policies, says Ben Brown.
Brown discusses the age-old political problem of choosing quick fixes over long-term solutions, especially when it comes to urban issues:
"Despite evidence that the approaches will work and despite commitment from some thoughtful folks in Washington and in state capitals, the synaptic delay problem messes up efforts to integrate land use planning with public health, the environment, affordability, aging in place, community agriculture and economic development strategies. The effects of choices in all those categories seem too distant to trump more immediate worries like unemployment and the housing bust."
Brown has some suggestions for connecting the present to the future.
Thanks to Hazel Borys
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Skagit Transit
Berkeley County
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
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NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
City of Cambridge, Maryland