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

"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

FULL STORY: Planning, Pet Rocks and Psychobabble

Wednesday, January 2, 2002 in Planetizen

Land Use United States

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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

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