Between a gentrified inner city and an expanding outer suburban development, there is the inner suburb (where in many cities the low-income households are mostly found). A ton of issues; access to jobs, services (particularly transportation) and an issue of city identity, lacking vibrant commercial activity and natural areas and new-style houses. Do you care or do you not?What is the nature of your planning?
Planning Law
A dosage of legal matters were offered on Tuesday, as we are as professionals to work with the two contentious issues of PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS and PUBLIC INTEREST. The number of issues to be rooted in these two interests are not few, and approaching them has to be done balanced and correctly – LOGICAL: TRACEABLE: REPLICABLE, remember. The virtue of planning is good analysis, but this is often left behind when blinded by the nature of planning (value based and biased).
But also, remembering our history of Walls
On a historical note, as urban planners we are obliged to remember the Berlin wall, as well as witness the erection of current Israeli walls, the American-Mexican walls, the Iraq-Baghdad walls or any other planned walls that aim to separate and discriminate. (This is only my critical thinking surfacing, not directly relevant to my week at the university. But my research does however focus on public space and public place, thus I am immediately attracted to criticizing walls…my bias at play.)
The closer we get to the present, the closer reality is about to hit us; we embrace for the clash and keep wandering backwards into the future…
Week 7
Le Corbusier (1887-1965) introduces ‘towers in the park’ with the benefits of greenspace, sunlight and high density. The whole world experiments with his concepts. The impact of the car is unpredictable, unimaginable: modernism, the sum of the whole, transforms the world without adhering to one man’s complete vision.
The inner city, between decline and gentrification, is a constantly moving target, adapting and dictating changes of lifestyle and livelihoods according to fashions of the time. The forces at play are beyond any planned intention. There is a planned drive to bring people in to the city again, and the market responds accordingly.
Bjørn Lomborg proposes rational approaches to political problems. Nothing more, nothing less. It is controversial. Rational people love it, while most special interest groups feel undervalued. I wonder if he merely manages to see a tree without understanding, feeling and caring for the forest, and thus believes it is best to cure the world one problem at the time? I re-read “Small is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered” by E.F. Schumacher (1911-1977), but Plan 703 is not the place to bring forth too many alternative views.
Rushed Reflections
The week went by so quickly I could hardly find time to reflect on it, before the next one is to begin. November and December is writing, which means I am coming to a close with most of my reading. I can feel it in my head, all the thoughts maturing and preparing to be let free to express themselves. Like wild ghosts seeking a way to materialize, seeking a way to generate new insight. They are real however, and the challenge is to make them work for me and not the other way around.
My academic challenge, which in turn will be my professional challenge, is to find the core of the issue, and proceed by offering the correct analysis and reporting of the means. Good means (parts) will bring good ends (whole), I believe. Looking at the cost and benefit is indeed key to this, stresses Simpson, and if we can prove pro and con to everly alternative, then the recipient will rightly be able to make up his/her own mind. That’s what professionals do, I am told.
Out of Ebenezer Howard’s (1850-1928) Garden City came suburbs (through a gradual evolution naturally), and in Toronto’s Don Mills we took the Wednesday to observe this. We are also given a guest lecture by Mr. Ian Bender, former Director of Planning in Simcoe County, which brings his experience and views on lessons learned.
Toronto Field Trip
We went to Toronto, to explore the various developments we every week discuss in class. The rain aside, standing there, applying all our senses, we see, hear, smell, touch, interact and feel what each space visited is to us, even if we’re only visitors. Starting from the Union Station, we walk to the Waterfront. Under the Gardiner Expressway, between the sky scrapers and condominium towers, and along the lake, noticing traffic noise, wide streets, limited park space, towers obstructing the view, and loud airplanes climbing the skies above us. The issues? They are many and complicated.
From the Water Front we proceed to St. Lawrence Market area (picture, left). Indeed a place with a distinct sense of place. A good place for some quality lunch.
With full bellies city observations are easier and the rain less noticeable. We head over to Regent Park, a social housing area now being redeveloped, consequently displacing scores of low-income tenants. Controversial? Yes.
After passing through Cabbagetown (picture, below), we bus and sub our way to Don Mills.
In Don Mills we get to see the result of a de-malling. Now catering to the up-market clientele, one has to wonder where all the regular people are to do their shopping? Perhaps it is easier to plan, build and justify low density, traffic-calmed shopping zones for the rich than for the general public? Indeed, if the argument is that financial profit should be the ruling baseline (the mall being a private enterprise) one must wonder if public spaces are of any interest at all?
Privatization of public land, slum replacement and upper-class preference is what we manages to see in this one day. It is so very interesting, eye-wakening and thought provoking – indeed intellectually stimulating – but in the end perhaps somewhat frustrating.
As for Plan 703, well...we’re not as critically and technically ‘modernistic’ as Ray Simpson would like, that’s for sure. Because, I, for one, don’t mind to read a completely biased Sierra Club text containing highly questionable ‘facts’ and biased generalizations. I am aware there are many ways to salvation and we should always be critical of expression of views that believe the end justifies the means, but that does not mean we have to despise and reject such views. In all fairness, I don’t disagree with Simpson’s point of alertness and critical thought towards such writing, every political interest utters such propaganda, but I am not yet ready to dismiss such interest, because then cooperation might be less fruitful, as we in the end have the same goal (the text was selling “Smart Growth”, for the right reasons but with the wrong reasoning).
Indeed, in my view a response to the text would not be to critique it as a whole, but rather correct the weak arguments and still support the end idea, as today’s policies of growth should undoubtedly be approached with smarter than current techniques.
Thanksgiving on Monday reduced the number of classes this week from three to one, thus ensuring all my attention to Ray Simpson’s PLAN 703 and this week’s topic of ‘municipal infrastructure financing’.
Financing is Intersting Financing is interesting. OK, I am somewhat convincing myself of this, but without any consideration planning is removed from reality and not all that real. To make planning real is what makes planning interesting. Thus, understanding financing makes planning interesting.
However, municipal financing is not taught in my classes this semester. One guest lecture manages to shed light on the topic, but I can not claim to understand all that I likely will have to understand in the future. To learn at the job is more likely to be needed.
For now it is the theory of planning that grabs most of my attention. What is planning and why do we plan? the role of private interests and common resources; land ownership and land uses; capitalism and government regulation.
Read now and write later
Time is spent reading, and it feels like a great privilege. It is somewhat quiet before the storm however, because essays are to be written and they will be stressful. I tried starting organizing my writings, but it is too early and I am not ready. Therefor I have spent the time doing other stuff, like experimenting with my Mac: making videos with sound and text, navigating the world of interesting pod casts (like TVO’s Big Ideas interviews with Richard Florida etc.), but also stopping by to talk with the staff of the Alternatives Journal located at the University of Waterloo and start a subscription.
A short week in the end
So, it has been a ’slow’ week with little school writing but much school reading, and that is to me a good week. I have also managed to do other stuff, that in our world of communication is worth while. It is a privilege to have time to study, and I love it. I have also completed an Ontario Graduate Scholarship application, which may free more time for me to study. If awarded.
It has been a short week. Saturday (today) is dedicated Kitchener-Waterloo cultural day; it is polka and beer and sausage/ schnitzel time in this part of the woods – and I have never been to Oktoberfest before so this should be fun.
What a week! I really like planning, planning theory that is. In truth, I wish I knew more about planning practice itself, because it seems to be very complicated. But that might come later, for now I am all about enjoying the present.
Plan 700, in its evolutionary fashion, has this week brought us to the Post-World-War II Period. A classic reading in the field, by Jane Jacobs (1961), sets the stage, opposing Robert Moses supporters and promoting liberal counter-culture from the grassroot. After her ‘reactive’ writing we are also guided towards other timely voices; voices that shift from conservative 1950s ‘Muddling Through’ realism (Lindblom, 1959), to post-modern ‘Advocacy and Pluralism in Planning’ (Davidoff, 1965), to social-progressive ‘Equitable Approaches to Local Economic Development’ (Krumholz, 1999), and lastly to feminist writing ‘Nurturing: Home, Mom, and Apple Pie’ (Hayden, 1984). It is about values. It is about accepting, choosing and advocating a wide variety of values. This, to my great delight, will be central ideas to advance in my own research down the road.
A planner with a purpose does not simply pick a side and plan accordingly, such planning is only sure to further divide our society and not transform it.
Plan 703 is led by guest speaker Robert E. Jarvis W.A.S., he’s a Law Firm founder in Toronto but not much is found when Googled (!?!). Anyway, in a ‘big-man’ fashion, he guides us through the murky waters of professional planning and issues like Ethics, Morality and Justice. Write with CLARITY, accept Conservative (Rational) politics and know where to draw the line are his three main points. Nothing more, nothing less. I enjoy having these ‘dinosaurs’ up there (I mean that in a positive and appreciative way), as they provide this clear and experienced insight to what planning was once all about. And what planning was all about is not what the academics and political democratic ‘liberals’ (e.g. hippies..haha) wish for the future. But even if change is in the air, much of what we will face out in the ‘real’ world are ‘powers’ (powerful stakeholders with certain values) defending the order of the past. ‘Know your enemy’ comes to mind. But Bob is not my enemy, he is a nice old man with lots of experience and valuable insights we students will need on our journey to the professional world of urban planning. Thanks Bob!
From philosophy to scientific method and innovation to the Industrial Revolution; then from Modernism and Fordism to post-modern and post-fordist, and let’s include New York City’s Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs – in an evolutionary fashion, we’re guided through theoretical and evidential urban developments stretching into the presence. We learn how theoretical ideals caused real world outcomes, and they are now theoretically questioned and quickly new directions are discussed.
Morris, Howard, Mumford, Geddes, Stein, Bauer, Wright, Bauhaus and Le Corbusier, and let’s include Chicago’s Burnham as well, all developed theoretical, Utopian concepts to solve urban problems as they understood them.
The Garden City (Howard, picture upper left), Radiant City (Le Corbusier, picture lower right), City Beautiful (Burnham), and the list goes on, as they all have their ideas and designs to as how a perfect city should be designed. Projects came about in ‘east and west’ looking to serve purposes of ideology, economy and untouchable political technocrats.
New York City is a world class city, thanks to Robert Moses.
In an elitist, expert-driven and Master-planned culture such theories flowered and became accepted. But that was before economic prosperity and educational maturity and cultural diversity placed their invisible hands on the society and pushed and pulled democracy to a new era.
The fieriest reaction and intellectual paradigm shift came, naturally, from N.Y.C as well, thanks to Jane Jacobs. (Similarly, only in the USA could a character like Obama rise after Bush, like the phoenix out of the ashes…true change comes from within, I guess.)
My thoughts start working for real when I seek read a chapter from Jane Jacob’s book “The Death and life of Great American Cities” from 1961:
Cities are fantastically dynamic places, and this is strikingly true of their successful parts, which offer a fertile ground for the plans of thousands of people…The look of things and the way they work are inextricably bound together, and in no place more so than cities. But people who are interested only in how a city “ought” to look and uninterested in how it works will be disappointed…It is futile to plan a city’s appearance, or speculate on how to endow it with a pleasing appearance of order, without knowing what sort of innate, functioning order it has. To seek for the look of things as a primary purpose or as the main drama is apt to make nothing but trouble.
Democracy, Public Participation and Planning
Thus, planning can be for people but should also be with people in mind. This is easier said than done however. Even today dinosaurs in the profession believes ‘professional’ means ’superior’ and ‘expert’, and that including people is in general a nuisance. “Why should all these people who know little and nothing about urban planning consume our time? It’s a waste of time – in local issues it may be great, but in ‘real’ planning of great importance their views are nothing but pain.” (OK, the dinosaur up front that I have in mind didn’t say this, but he did come across in such a way nevertheless.)
So we discussed ‘democracy’ for a while this week. Not many Voltaire supporters out there: “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.” I tried to add that “grading your own work is not doomed to be a selfish activity” (my own statement) but to competitive, A+ driven social climbers this was laughable. There is a long way to go, but optimism survives the day and I’m determined to push progress forwards in my own way…if the system does not eat me alive that is.
Friday Conference Fun
Well, a long post has come to an end, but that’s week 3 as far intellectual advancement goes. I should also add that on Friday we went to Niagara Falls for the annual CIP? OPPI conference, this year dedicated to “Building a Better World”. A long day of constant professional impressions, networking and cutting edge information and inspiration speeches. A good experience, and next year in Montreal is something for to look forward.
…I take a minute reminding myself why I choose to spend my Saturday reading Urban Planning Theory; it can be fun!
Hoping to preserve the resources and places that make our planet beautiful, I believe cities need planners; planners who can plan for both the stakeholders who want the benefits of a city without challenging its region’s environmental carrying capacity as well as the stakeholders who don’t care. To do this I invest my time and effort in caring for the nature and the culture both outside and inside the city.
DOLK is a well known street artist to the residents of Bergen, Norway, leaving his mark all over the city. Bergen is over a 1000 years old, and it survives because it have, among many other economic, political and cultural qualities, creative and expressive citizens.
I will not repeat Brugmann’s points, mentioned in earlier posts, about what’s needed for a city to prosper; citysystems are rich, and not limiting. They are flexible. They adapt to change. They appreciate creativity. They are managed with diversity in mind. If I am to be a planner, I seek to remember this, as well as remembering that my job is to be neutral and serve the will of people and politicians. The question remains, firstly, will I become a planner, and secondly, will I be able to be the kind of planner I think the future City needs?
Context and detail, on behalf of rapid progress, summarizes this weeks intellectual dosage.
Plan 621:
The topic was “Planning, power and institutional structures: What is the real purpose of planning?” Planning takes place within the municipal and provincial institutional and organizational structure. An insight to the economic and political power structures, through open conversation among instructor and fellow classmates, made me aware how easily subjective, opinionated and unstructured such a topic can be portrayed. Productive? Not really. Interesting? Somewhat. Real? Absolutely. I take it that a planner should be familiar with the complex and talkative part of public discussions.
Plan 700:
Topic: “From the Medieval City to the Industrial Revolution”, but it also included antique information. Being a fan of strategic computer games like Civilization and Sim City as well as watching documentaries like Rome and traveling to Paris and London, makes this class easier and more enjoyable, I feel, than if without this background. The point is the same however, cities and their structure shape according to varying needs and desires. The two polar extremes being the Organic (Medieval City with its narrow unstructured corridors) and the Organized Renaissance City (with its avenues and meaningfully designed outlay correlating and impressing its users and visitors alike). They may, and often do, take place in the same city, but in many ways these city planning rationalities are as structuring as democracy vs. communism vs. monarchy etc.
Plan 703
Demography. Planning is not completely, but to a very large extent, about understanding and making use of demographic data. Understanding age structure aids planners, and many other professions, in estimating what is needed of services and consumer goods to which size of consumers in what kind of age group. Canada’s demographics is very interesting, due to its large geographical area, high level of urban population, Baby-boomer generation, ethnic diversity and immigration pattern, and issue of small-town population decline.
(Age structure Canadian population, 2001)
Planning for retirement is thus indeed future planners’ responsibility, and not planning for this large group of people will likely cause challenges. Where should they live? In what buildings? How do they get around? What services do they need? What financial resources will be available to secure their needs?
As interesting as I am willing to make it
This week could be considered dry, irrelevant and overly theoretical, but the beauty of studying something that interests ones mind ensures no such thoughts take root. This fascinates me. This awakens my curiosity. This keeps me alive.
Also, I didn’t do too much of the readings this week, as I was preoccupied with pondering on my thesis research and also wondering about what kind of planner I am; communicative (listen and facilitate bottom-up, Community investment), New Urbanist (design and structure) and/or Just-city (pluralistic, cooperative, decentralized equality for all). Progressive, normative and optimistic – nonetheless!
The last weekend of splendid summer, most likely, gloriously passing outside my apartment, while my mind is fully occupied with pondering on graduate thesis alternatives – and it better be worth it!
I read about planning theory. I ready my previous thesis notes (I journal my thoughts on this matter in detail). I take Cooper to the dog-park. I walk the neighbourhood. I read more theory. I make a mind-map (My Thoughts – really fun by the way) and feel some progress.
Car-free zones:
Yes, they are New Urbanim’s wet dream, and naturally controversial. The video is basic, to state the obvious, but nevertheless academically interesting. I spent Saturday wondering about how far down the ‘communicative planning’-rabbit hole I should dare to go, but it got very dark and I dared go no further…
Today I have seen the light, possible, and believe there might be more worthwhile to do a (couple of?) qualitative (possible mixed qualitative and quantitative would be the best in such a case, if I have the resources) evaluation study(ies) of the use of car-free/ car-reduced zones in downtown revitalization planning.
The policies of more and more progressive cities around the world favour higher densities and more urbanism. Evaluations are always important, in order to learn from the processes. And qualitative research can provide a deeper insight that neither new reports nor qualitative (economic cost-benefit) analysis alone can offer.
My Master of Arts in Planning is a two-year program at the University of Waterloo, starting this week.
I’m doing 3 courses (PLAN 621, 700 and 703), which of 2 is instructed by Professor Pierre Filion (also my advisor) and 1 (703) by Ray Simpson.
These courses are intended to:
(621) Increase my “understanding and planning for contemporary processes of metropolitan change in Canada” (course syllabus)
(700) Provide “historical background and development of planning including cultural, philosophical and disciplinary roots; planning theory and its applications in urban, regional, service and environmental areas” (course syllabus)
(703) Provide an “understanding of important aspects of making the transition from planning students to being a professional planner” (course syllabus)
Week 1
We cover Innis and his staples theory, in regards to how Canada was settled and thus ‘planned’; the role of Canada’s Euro-connection (politics and population) but the economic connection in particular (tied increasingly to the USA), as well as social-economic policies of conflicting social theory and economic rationale. Demographics and particularly reproduction/ immigration is the most stable indicator to planning.
The theory of planning is fundamentally different to the practice of planning. It is values ridden, and thus different values influence different preferences through history. The two outer edges are either rational, progressive futuristic or organic, traditional searching for a happy past. All planning is influenced by geography, sociological, economic, political and any other factor, by the virtue of the planner is to stay generalist and neutral in his role to mediate and organize public and private viewpoints, and secure decisions in a lawful and theoretical coherent fashion.
Ray Simpson’s teaching is so very simple yet the greatest challenge; A PLANNERS WORK MUST BE LOGICAL, TRACABLE AND REPLICABLE. (Know as the realistic view in the world of academia.)
In brief:
A) While the nature of planning is value based (and thus biased), the virtue of planning is good analysis.
B) The world (economic-driven culture in which we live) is constantly at battle with narrowly organized interest groups.
C) Planners influence the core to economic reality (land value and use), and gets in trouble if guided by values and not virtue.
D) Everything can be legally challenged, and thus the need for logical, traceable and replicable.
E) Politics (city council etc.) tires to express competing values-systems, but planners are to advice, analyze, provide input, explain and respond in their professional role.
F) Working against the market is next to impossible, and planning is thus a terrible vehicle for social change (tax-system believed to have a greater impact).
G) Planners must therefore understand market rationality (because they influence it) and be excellent communicators (because they should be listened to).
So, week one was a good one. Now it’s only lots of reading left to do. Should be fun!
Toronto Field Trip
From the Water Front we proceed to 
Financing is interesting. OK, I am somewhat convincing myself of this, but without any consideration planning is removed from reality and not all that real. To make planning real is what makes planning interesting. Thus, understanding financing makes planning interesting.
Read now and write later
Plan 700, in its evolutionary fashion, has this week brought us to the Post-World-War II Period. A classic reading in the field, by Jane Jacobs (1961), sets the stage, opposing Robert Moses supporters and promoting liberal counter-culture from the grassroot. After her ‘reactive’ writing we are also guided towards other timely voices; voices that shift from conservative 1950s ‘Muddling Through’ realism (Lindblom, 1959), to post-modern ‘Advocacy and Pluralism in Planning’ (Davidoff, 1965), to social-progressive ‘Equitable Approaches to Local Economic Development’ (Krumholz, 1999), and lastly to feminist writing ‘Nurturing: Home, Mom, and Apple Pie’ (Hayden, 1984). It is about values. It is about accepting, choosing and advocating a wide variety of values. This, to my great delight, will be central ideas to advance in my own research down the road.
Plan 621 is all about transportation, and essentially the problem of providing empirical data to argue either the one or the other way. It is not straight forward theoretical argument (or refute) regarding the relation between land-use/ design and travel behavior. You can be a believer or a skeptic, but the data remains inconclusive. Thus, which land-use and design that conducts high walking levels and transit patronage is uncertain. 
“Why should all these people who know little and nothing about urban planning consume our time? It’s a waste of time – in local issues it may be great, but in ‘real’ planning of great importance their views are nothing but pain.” (OK, the dinosaur up front that I have in mind didn’t say this, but he did come across in such a way nevertheless.)
Hoping to preserve the resources and places that make our planet beautiful, I believe cities need planners; planners who can plan for both the stakeholders who want the benefits of a city without challenging its region’s environmental carrying capacity as well as the stakeholders who don’t care. To do this I invest my time and effort in caring for the nature and the culture both outside and inside the city.
