By Anthony Flint
CityLab
PRAGUE—Call it post-planning, planning 2.0, or maybe un-planning. And the crazy thing is, this revolt against traditional approaches to planning is being conducted by planners themselves.
At the annual convening of the Association of European Schools of Planninghere, there was no little soul-searching about the practice of the craft. Europe has been an undisputed leader in attempting to guide urban growth in an orderly fashion. European Union members have not only set down rules, regulations, and policies for each nation, but created what has been called “territorial cohesion” between nations, seeking to build on economic agglomerations across cities along a high-speed rail line, for example.
But in the polished minimalist halls of the Czech Technical University architecture school, where AESOP was held, there was the sense—quite refreshing in its honesty—that despite the grand efforts, planning wasn’t really paying off. Global urbanization carries multiple complexities, with loads of unintended consequences and unanticipated outcomes, whether in Cleveland or London or Bogota. If the future is not linear, planning in a linear fashion is the equivalent of banging one’s head against the drafting table.
Read full coverage here.