Statistic Planning vs. Design-based Planning: Can We Compromise?

Paying an arm and a leg for a Masters degree doesn’t seem like an ideal way to enter the world of consumer debt, but I guess it’s a start… and at least I’m spending money on something that I enjoy immensely, that challenges me… and frustrates me to no end. If I didn’t care so much about making cities better places to live than I wouldn’t let it bother me so much, right?! Well, each week ends with me shaking my head and rolling my eyes. As much as I need this degree to carry me into the career of my dreams… I see the redundancies in research. My Law, Economics and Sustainability courses all preach fancy “frameworks” and rules to live by as a planner. Nevertheless, there are always exceptions to those rules. ALWAYS! So why use the rule in the first place if you’re just going to break it along the way? In a world where we strive for efficiency in everything, making rules and theories that we just break and invalidate seems like such a waste of time.

It’s only week 3 of the semester and I am already filling my “Planner Toolkit,” as they call it, with things like urban economics: understanding supply and demand; government regulation pros and cons; the emergence and role of environmental law; where to find said laws; how to read and make sense of said laws; urban structural form; urban consolidation for dummies, etc. It is nice to see my money paying for this lovely little box of tricks, but how useful are these tools really. The readings on urban structural form emphasize that it is one way of categorizing built form in cities and analyzing urban metabolism, increase green space, and increase density of housing stock, etc. Too often do policy makers and planners rely only on these tools without actually going outside and viewing the area in question?!

That is the danger I sense when looking around at the 30-40 other students in my classes. Do not fall into the trap of the faceless bureaucrat sitting at your desk in a windowless cubicle, typing out grand plans for your city’s downtown while not even strolling through the very place you plan to alter so drastically. The toolbox is useful, yes, but it is not the only answer. Please, every planner in my program and developer for that matter – please take one design class and understand that your most important tool is your observation and experience. Experience is the only way the people living in cities understand their city. It is the only way they relate to what planners, developers and architects [etc.] do. The key to a healthy and vibrant world city such as Sydney is not in your textbook; it is by walking down the street and viewing the site in question.

…How we can include an “observation is key” tattoo field trip into the curriculum? Course title: all who wish to graduate as planners must get this phrase tattooed on their forehead… Bad idea? Just a thought! :)