Planning, Pet Rocks And Psychobabble

Richard Carson argues there's nothing new or innovative about "New Urbanism." It's just a new name for an old strategy.

1 minute read

January 2, 2002, 6:00 AM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen


"We have watched what was traditionally land use planning be reinvented as comprehensive planning, growth management, neo-traditional town planning, new urbanism, and now smart growth. Through this process of reinvention, we planners have increasingly put the psychology of planning before the functionality of planning... Our "know-it-all" attitude has also resulted in a failure to maintain the participation of the citizens who created these earlier plans and has fed the anti-growth and anti-planning voting among the electorate at the ballot box. We are reaping the bitter harvest of our blind faith in our own moral imperative..."

Thanks to Chris Steins

Wednesday, January 2, 2002 in Planetizen

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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. Mary G., Urban Planner

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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