Mitchell Silver's passionate defense of planning has earned admirers in England, where "a deflated planning profession is on the defensive". Peter Hetherington looks at Silver's advice for how English planners can show their value to skeptics.
"Last month, at a centenary congress of the International Federation of Housing and Planning in London, Silver effectively called for a reborn planning system with people at its heart and equity as the watchword," writes Hetherington. Planning in England is currently "on the back foot" due to a combination of top-down control, drastic budget cuts, and a reputation as being "unadventurous and obstructive".
"Why, then, has planning got such a bad name in England? Everyone, he says, is looking for a villain. 'But what I understand is that there are tens of thousands of [planning] permissions out there yet to be developed. First question: why are they still on the books? Is it the planners or the lending institutions? Second, planners have to show their value, talk very differently about how they create jobs, the economy, and not just focus on the regulations.'"
FULL STORY: Mitchell Silver: Redesigning the way we live
Planning Trends for 2025: Creative Housing Solutions, Ongoing Transit Woes, and the Ever-Creeping Tentacles of AI
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Explore US Demographics With the New ACS Atlas Collection
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The VW Bus is Back — Now as an Electric Minivan
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San Diego to Rescind Multi-Unit ADU Rule
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Electric Vehicles for All? Study Finds Disparities in Access and Incentives
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research