Why Urban Planning Should Be Abolished

Tribune-Review columnist Bill Steigerwald interviews economic Randal O'Toole about his new book, "The Best-Laid Plans: How Government Planning Harms Your Quality of Life, Your Pocketbook, and Your Future."

1 minute read

November 5, 2007, 8:00 AM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen

"After 30 years of looking at government plans -- forest plans, park plans, transportation plans, city plans, state plans, all kinds of plans -- I've realized all government planning is bad. Government planning -- that is to say, comprehensive, long-range planning that often tries to plan and control other people's land and resources -- always does more harm than good because the planners don't have an incentive to make sure that their plans are the right plans."

..."It's impossible -- literally impossible -- to plan to the level of detail to make sure that everybody achieves what they need and want. So planners oversimplify. They rely on fads. The fad was once to tear down slums and build high-density housing projects. Now the fad is Smart Growth."

FULL STORY: Meet the anti-planner

Saturday, November 3, 2007 in Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Land Use United States

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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