Christian HaselbachMay 22, 2024
I stumbled over the YouTube channel #RadicalPlanning and just watched through the Planing Theory series. The first video is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8KYsGaDE5w. There is some interesting stuff here and it certainly gets me thinking on my decent further down the #UrbanPlanning rabbit hole.
Rational-Comprehensive Planning Theory | Radical Planning 101

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Show threadChristian HaselbachMay 22, 2024
As I am trying to learn more about #UrbanPlanning / the built environmen and its policies and politics, I came across #StrongTowns which had a few things to say that I found compelling especially as it seemed to me to work against #CarCentrism. I'm not a fiscal conservative but the approach presented inter alia in the Strong Towns book seems reasonable to me.
Show threadChristian Haselbach
Other parts irritate me a bit: Marohn glorifies how cities used to bootstrap themselves by going through iterations (I like that part but more on that later). What he doesn't say but implies, is that there are no regulations to get in the way. He calls this cities small little bets where some fail and some make it. It's a bit survival of the fittest.
May 22, 2024 at 4:45amWeb
Show threadChristian HaselbachMay 22, 2024
What is neglected here is that many regulations are coming from the hard learned lessons of these failures and that maybe having your whole town burn down because there are no fire safety codes is not ideal.
Show threadChristian HaselbachMay 22, 2024
Marohn is a proponent of #incrementalism and the case he makes appeals to me as a software engineer. In sofware engineering, doing small steps and iterating often to ensure you are on the right track and validate your assumptions, is a solid and proven strategy. Not knowing what theories are behind incrementalism in planning, I liked this at first glance.
Show threadChristian HaselbachMay 22, 2024
But is #incrementalism actually this? It certainly is presented in a way in the #StrongTowns book in a way that is consistent with this. Josh (#RadicalPlanning) criticizes it as preserving the status quo and claims that it has no guiding vision. I find the lacking of proof though. Why can you not have a guiding vision and try to get there in small steps?
Show threadChristian HaselbachMay 22, 2024
The series is giving me a lot to think about and things I want to look into. It gives me cognitive dissonance in a good way. What's a bit disappointing though is that Josh on the one hand gives insight into all these theoretical backgrounds but then simplifies everything to be either left or right. The one dimensional treatment is already under-complex but he often treats it as a binary. Nonetheless, I found it to be a great series and hope that more videos are coming.