Re:Commercial property deals in the US are starting to pick ...
by chongli on Thursday February 15, 2024 @03:14AM
(#39380262)
Urban planners are people, not systems. Firefighters oppose fires and try to put them out, yet fires still happen. Would you say that the purpose of firefighting is to burn down houses?
Re:Commercial property deals in the US are starting to pick ...
by epistasis on Thursday February 15, 2024 @12:07PM
(#39385190)
The proper analogy here would be that the firefighters, despite personally opposing more fires, go out and set houses on fire because their profession requires them to do so.
The entire system is set up to produce worse outcomes, and the planners are the ones constructing and enabling the system.
Re:Commercial property deals in the US are starting to pick ...
by chongli on Thursday February 15, 2024 @03:57PM
(#39388718)
planners are the ones constructing and enabling the system
No, they aren't. The worst outcomes would happen regardless of whether or not planners were involved. The ones to blame are the vested stakeholders (homeowners and developers), not the planners working for the city trying to fix things.
You can see the whole thing play out (comedically) on the show Parks and Rec. Real life is just a drier, more cynical version of that story.
The purpose of a system is what it does. The supposed opposition of planners, a completely ineffectual and meaningless opposition that has zero effect on any policy outcome, does not change the fact that planning as a profession ends up being this means to an end.