Looking for Solutions in a World of Innovations

Current trends in the design community require a pointed question: "When everything is characterized as 'world-changing,' is anything?"

1 minute read

July 12, 2016, 6:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Delivery Drone

Slavoljub Pantelic / Shutterstock

Allison Arieff takes the occasion of a book review to write a critique of the design ethos of the disrupters and tech innovators of the contemporary economy. Arieff writes:

In this way, innovation is very much mirroring the larger public discourse: a distrust of institutions combined with unabashed confidence in one’s own judgment shifts solutions away from fixing, repairing or improving and shoves them toward destruction for its own sake. 

Those words inspired by a recently published book by Jessica Helfand, titled Design: The Invention of Desire. Although the book's themes apply to more technological innovations than the Airbnbs and Ubers of the world (i.e., new technology directly related to planning, land use, and transportation), a book calling for a renewed attention to the humanist disciplines of design does apply to the world of planning—which more and more often adopts the moniker "urban design" before anything else.

And the questions Arieff asks certainly apply to the examples of urban design, rural design, architecture, landscape architecture, or all these other possible manifestations of the design works confronting planners every day: "Are we fixing the right things? Are we breaking the wrong ones? Is it necessary to start from scratch every time?"

Saturday, July 9, 2016 in The New York Times

portrait of professional woman

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.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

June 11, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Metrorail train pulling into newly opened subterranean station in Washington, D.C. with crowd on platform taking photos.

Congressman Proposes Bill to Rename DC Metro “Trump Train”

The Make Autorail Great Again Act would withhold federal funding to the system until the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), rebrands as the Washington Metropolitan Authority for Greater Access (WMAGA).

June 2, 2025 - The Hill

Large crowd on street in San Francisco, California during Oktoberfest festival.

The Simple Legislative Tool Transforming Vacant Downtowns

In California, Michigan and Georgia, an easy win is bringing dollars — and delight — back to city centers.

June 2, 2025 - Robbie Silver

Ohio State Senate building nwith modern downtown Columbus skyscrapers in background.

Proposed Ohio Budget Preserves Housing Trust Fund

The Senate-approved budget also creates two new programs aimed at encouraging housing construction.

16 seconds ago - Ohio Capital Journal

Two children and an adult looking out over railing at Grand Canyon.

DOJ Says Trump Has Power to Roll Back National Monuments

The opinion sheds light on how the administration may justify its effort to eliminate protected public lands.

1 hour ago - Inside Climate News

Aerial view of Camden Station train station in Baltimore, Maryland. Train station is brick neoclassical building with three-tier tower.

Maryland Awards $1.25M in TOD-Related Grants

The state’s DOT is funding projects that prepare sites around transit stations for future mixed-use development and housing.

2 hours ago - The Baltimore Banner