The Onion has once again focused its satirical gaze on the art and science of planning, this time telling the fictional story of a planner in Des Moines, Iowa, who just couldn't help but copy Philadelphia.

"Saying that his designs felt oddly familiar as he was drafting them, urban planner William Reston confirmed Monday that while envisioning a revitalized downtown for Des Moines, IA, he had absentmindedly laid out the preexisting city of Philadelphia," claims the fictional account in The Onion.
“Honestly, I really should have spotted it when I changed Western Gateway Park’s name to JFK Plaza and added Robert Indiana’s LOVE sculpture, but for whatever reason it just made sense at the time,” said the totally-not-a-real-planner William Reston.
FULL STORY: City Planner Gets Halfway Through Designing City Before Realizing He’s Just Doing Philadelphia Again

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