Introduction:
Diminished city government, underfunded and understaffed planning departments, the short attention spans of citizens and politicians, waning trust in government generally, and an accelerating speed of change – these are some of the trends that make public agencies increasingly less likely to be the source and originators for viable innovative plans. Instead communities, politicians, institutions and even public agencies themselves look beyond the familiar faces when it comes to solutions for intricate urban problems.
In the fast paced world, instant planning is highly attractive, anything that gets results fast, avoids employment but still allows stakeholder involvement and public participation is welcome. The out-of-town expert, not burdened by local allegiances and networks, gains a kind of allure that way, even beyond the fact that the prophets are never accepted in their own hometown.
A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home (Matthew 13:57)Ad-hoc groups, advisory services, blue ribbon panels are in high demand, anybody really, except those who who by their original job description are charged with city planning.
Can those ad-hoc panels deliver? Can they really assure proper community involvement? Are they qualified or are they simply carpet baggers? Who can provide such services? Didn't the internet make "out-of-town-big city expertise" obsolete?
This article will address those questions.
Scene 1
It is shortly before ten o'clock on a Thursday night, the location is a small hotel ballroom in the downtown Hilton of the Texas town that describes it as a "city of cowboys and culture". The floor is littered with pizza boxes and about eight folks from San Francisco, New York, DC, Detroit, Miami and Baltimore are staring at their open laptops when the intense clicidiclac of the keyboards gets interrupted by the voice of the group chair asking to please submit your slide shows now so another run through can begin...read full article
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Klaus Philipsen FAIA
Archplan Inc. Philipsen Architects
Baltimore MD
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