Why urban Planning Fails--especially in Boston

The Boston Globe’s article “Urban Analysis” (Monday, October 3, 2011) is another self-indulgent look at what urban planners want to do and what urban planners can do. And none of it is new or cutting edge.


The Romans were perhaps the world’s most successful urban planners. Why—because Rome, at the height of its power, was an absolute dictatorship, with a Senate thrown in for good looks. It was a lot like Mayor Menino’s Boston with the City Council along for the ride. Urban planners hold tight to the belief that a good plan creates good development. The problem with that thinking is that there is a complete lack of recognition that land transfer and ownership in this country is private. Yes, government must and should control infrastructure and common land uses such as parks and recreation. But you can plan your heart away and if the CEO of a company doesn’t agree that point x generated by some type of Urban Network Analysis toolbox, the game’s up. Planners cannot execute.

And adding more and more data does not help. Nigel Jacob, in the Mayor’s office, who, by the way, needs to realize he works for a man who gives lip service to urban planning but absolute interest in Menino planning, needs to take a serious course in what is and is not “revolutionary” in urban planning. Nigel and the weekend data warriors should stop playing with numbers first and spend some time realizing they are not urban planning revolutionaries. Some suggestions: Ptolemy, Erastotshenes, Alexander von Humboldt, William Hunt Morris, and Robert Moses. Phone apps for removing graffiti and choosing great spots for bike racks is not exactly the stuff of revolution.

There is a fine line between setting a context for development and developing. Vornado and Filene’s come to mind. Ouch, that hurts. The planner and his toolbox are on the context side. Private capital, motivated by no set rules, is on the other. I have a good sense of this. I studied geography and economic development in college and have practiced commercial real estate for 29 years in Boston.

I must say I didn’t foresee “Occupy Boston” as a land use for the so-called Greenway. Was that in the plan?