2017 Urbanism Summit 1B | Allen Penman - Keeping Great Plans Off the Shelf
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This document provides tips for urban planners to effectively advocate for good urbanism and make their plans a reality. The tips are: 1) Preach to decision-makers, not just those already convinced of urbanist ideas 2) Be louder than anti-urban interests who may oppose plans 3) Defend the professional worth of urban planning to resist efforts to circumvent the planning process for political or business interests 4) Change the conversation away from cars if a discussion focuses too much on automotive infrastructure 5) Consider joining the public sector where the ability to directly implement plans may be greater than in other roles
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2017 Urbanism Summit 1B | Allen Penman - Keeping Great Plans Off the Shelf
- 1. On Avoiding the Shelf Tips for making good urbanism happen. Allen Penniman, AICP CNU NE 2017 March 31, District Hall, Boston
- 2. • Moses understood that for plans to be more than “lines on a map,” you need: • Executive support • Resources • We know what makes urbanism “good,” but do we have the means to achieve it?
- 3. 1. Preach to the decision-makers, not the choir.
- 5. Lawyer Providence City Council Lawyer Non-Profit Director Finance Officer Purchasing Manager Lawyer Valet Labor Organizer Non-Profit Director Community Organizer Fraud Investigator Product Designer Real Estate Advocate HR Director
- 6. Ms. Councilor… If we up-zone for density, the neighborhood will be more walkable.
- 7. Ms. Councilor… If we up-zone for density, the neighborhood will be more walkable. Relaxing density restrictions will increase foot traffic for local businesses.
- 8. Ms. Councilor… We should eliminate parking minimums because millennials prefer not to drive.
- 9. Ms. Councilor… We should eliminate parking minimums because millennials prefer not to drive. We need affordable housing to curb the brain drain. When we require developers to build parking, they pass the cost on to tenants and college grads can’t afford our city.
- 10. Ms. Councilor… We should forbid suburban office parks and incentivize employers to locate near transit because sprawl is bad.
- 11. Ms. Councilor… We should forbid suburban office parks and incentivize employers to locate near transit because sprawl is bad. downtown office buildings yield twice the tax revenue/acre than suburban office parks.
- 13. 1. Preach to the decision-makers, not the choir. 2. Be louder than the anti-urban interests.
- 14. Source: Cambridge Residents Alliance
- 15. Source: Neighbors for More Neighbors
- 16. Source: Neighbors for More Neighbors
- 17. 1. Preach to the decision-makers, not the choir. 2. Be louder than the anti-urban interests. 3. Be good at defending your professional worth.
- 18. Scenario: A real estate professional sees your design standards and permits as “hurdles,” so she tries to cut a deal with the mayor to bypass you in the name of economic development. Your response? Ad hoc deals involve uncertainty, risk, and sometimes cronyism. These a favorable business climate do not make. Ask your mayor if she want’s her city to look like Houston.
- 19. Scenario: An architect who sees your community process as a threat to her design control, so she attacks you as a bureaucrat standing in the way. Your response? Lack of popular support can kill a project. Please get over your Ayn Rand fantasy.
- 20. Senario: A resident came to a charrette a year ago and saw no tangible outcomes, so she lost faith that you can make anything happen. Your response? Celebrate and take credit for accomplishments in visible spaces. Practice liaison planning.
- 21. Scenario: The politician who is motivated by showing tangible results within her term to her constituents, and so considers your 10-year vision trivial. Your response? Build quick wins into your scope. Speak in terms of jobs, tax revenue, positive optics.
- 22. Be able to explain urban planning in one sentence:
- 23. Be able to explain urban planning in one sentence: We manage how the city grows and develops. It’s the architecture of the city. We figure out where buildings, transit lines, parks, and other things should go.
- 24. 1. Preach to the decision-makers, not the choir. 2. Be louder than the anti-urban interests. 3. Be good at defending your professional worth. 4. If the conversation is about cars, change the conversation.
- 25. 6-10 Connector • Typical 1950s era urban highway • Decades of deferred maintenance • Overrepresentation of suburban interests in media and politics • State-controlled
- 33. 1. Preach to the decision-makers, not the choir. 2. Be louder than the anti-urban interests. 3. Be good at defending your professional worth. 4. If the conversation is about cars, change the conversation. 5. Join the public sector.
- 34. “The [BMR] made recommendations; Ms. Moskowitz made laws. The [BMR] got enthusiastic and excited; Ms. Moskowitz got things done.”
Editor's Notes
- This presentation is about convincing the power brokers who control your city to support your plans.
- Urbanists are birds of a feather. We are bound by our mission for cities. And we’re great at talking to each other in our echo chamber. But we are not well-understood by politicians, business leaders, the public…and this is dangerous When you return to work Monday, will the power brokers share your mission for cities?
- These are the power brokers in my town: lawyers, community organizers, a valet. No planners, no architects. Waxing poetic about wonky terms like “livability” and “road diets” is met with: Where are the jobs? Where are the votes? Where is the tax revenue? Will my constituents recognize that I’ve delivered on promises? Let’s go through a few examples of how to appeal to non-urbanist power-brokers
- Translate your values into the language of the power broker
- A NIMBY group distributed this flyer to every home in Cambridge to drum up opposition to new development Fear-mongering is effective, especially when it’s the only narrative Beat the NIMBYs at their own game
- This was put out by a YIMBY group in Minnesota I like this for two reasons: It’s funny and that makes for good propoganda It explains a wonky term in terms that resonate with laypeople
- This one is even more accessible WPA poster
- You will find yourself in situations when your professional authority is questioned, or you are marginalized entirely. Don’t be a pushover. You need to stand up for yourself. Let’s roleplay a few common scenarios…
- say what you've done for your audience lately
- - tactical urbanism / urban prototyping - Make your elected official look good
- If this is your answer, you are irrelevant!
- - this is a typical midcentury highway we call the 6-10 connector - the state came into some money and had plans to expand it on suburban terms - it was a conversation about traffic. we needed to make it about cities
- - we brought three luminaries to Providence: - Veronica Vanterpool convinced NY Governor Cuomo to tear down the Sheridan Expressway - Ian Lockwood engineered the Embarcadero - Peter Park was the planning director of Milwaukee who oversaw the removal of the Park East Freeway
- - 400 people turned out and it was covered by every news outlet in RI
- - we reminded the audience that neighborhoods were bulldozed to build the 6-10 Connector
- - we showed examples of successful highway teardowns in peer cities that Veronica, Ian, and Peter led - and we reminded the audience that we relocated our other urban highway and now the land that was freed up is a booming innovation district.
- - we held a panel discussion with the RIDOT director, our planning director, and Veronica, Ian, and Peter. - we forced the RIDOT director to respond to urbanist notions in a televised setting.
- - 9 months later (after much negotiation) City and State arrived at a consensus design. - here we are at the press conference in December 2016
- - This is that design. Still a highway, but far slimmer and sunken instead of elevated. - And __ acres of land are reclaimed for development. - This outcome would have never been possible if hadn't introduced ideas beyond traffic congestion to the dialogue.
- Robert Caro describing Robert Moses decision (at age 30) to leave the Bureau of Municipal Research, a think tank, to work for Belle Moskowitz, political advisor to then NY Governor, Al Smith. Design consultancies may own the professional prestige in our field, but boards and commissions wield the power. Infiltrate the power structure and reform from within Tempered radicalism Tempered radicals, Meyerson and Scully argue, are individuals who identify withand are committed to their organizations and also to a cause, community or ideologythat is fundamentally different from, and possibly at odds with, the dominant cultureof their organization. Their radicalism stimulates them to challenge the status quo.Their temperedness reflects the way they have been toughened by challenges,angered by what they see as injustices or ineffectiveness, and inclined to seekmoderation in their interactions with members closer to the centre of organizationalvalues and orientations.
- Claim your seat at the table, like Daenerys did at the Dothraki council (maybe with less fire) If you don’t, someone like Robert Moses will.