A History of Non-Planning (and its Contemporary Effects)

Anthony Fontenot provides a historic survey of arguments against planning to find a contemporary world suffering the effects of the lack of planning. Fontenot begins by stating the dilemma—that "even as metropolitan regions face increasingly severe and structural problems — water scarcity, cyclical flooding, atmospheric pollution, housing affordability, failing infrastructure — the capacity of cities to counter these problems is diminishing."

Then Fontenot proceeds to survey the history of intellectuals, designers who have argued against planning as an enemy of freedom. The survey begins with one of the "fundamental challenges to design in the 20th century"—that of Austrian-British economist Friedrich August Hayek. "In his influential mid-century treatise, The Road to Serfdom, Hayek argued that design — specifically, socialist or state-based planning — belonged to a zeitgeist characterized by a 'passion for a conscious control of everything.'"

Fontenot follows the lineage of Hayek's arguments through the Independent Group and the New Brutalists, Reyner Banham, Learning from Las Vegas, Rem Koolhaas, and more.

Fontenot does not, however, conclude by renewing these arguments and applying them to the contemporary world. Instead, he arrives at the following assertion: "As the focus on environmental issues has intensified in the past decade, as first sustainability and now resilience have become new mantras, the limitations of 'non plan' or 'no plan' have become ever clearer. And the environmental implications are only the most obvious. If as a discipline we thought we understood the history — and the shortcomings — of planning, it’s increasingly evident that we’ve paid comparatively little attention to the history of 'non planning' — to the tumultuous consequences of the lack of a plan."

Finally, Fontenot concludes by citing example of a new middle way, provided by Medellín in Colombia.