Decision makers in cities can mistake their own preferences for the preferences of the city as a whole, which is doubly dangerous when elite preferences become the law of the land.

The loudest voices in shaping cities can be a non-representative sample, Jarret Walker argues in a piece for his blog Human Transit. Cities need to serve everyone. Aiming for solutions that serves a city's richest is dangerous, because, "The mistake is to forget that elites are always a minority, and that planning a city or transport network around the needs of a minority routinely yields an outcome that doesn’t work for the vast majority," Walker says.
The problem of what Walker calls “elite protectionism” is at the root of the obsession with the last-mile problem and the reason for prizing outlandish solutions over practical ones. "Large fixed-route buses are the only form of transit that can quickly scale to an entire city while still using scarce urban space with extreme efficiency. Yet many urban elites assume (subtly or overtly) that bus service doesn’t matter because it’s not useful to them personally," Walker writes.
FULL STORY: The Dangers of Elite Projection

Trump Administration Could Effectively End Housing Voucher Program
Federal officials are eyeing major cuts to the Section 8 program that helps millions of low-income households pay rent.

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

The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees
More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?

HSR Reaches Key Settlement in Northern California City
The state’s high-speed rail authority reached an agreement with Millbrae, a key city on the train’s proposed route to San Francisco.

Washington State Legislature Passes Parking Reform Bill
A bill that would limit parking requirements for new developments is headed to the governor’s desk.

Missouri Law Would Ban Protections for Housing Voucher Users
A state law seeks to overturn source-of-income discrimination bans passed by several Missouri cities.
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