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Bored Pandagot in touch with Richard Layman, a urban/commercial district revitalization and transportation advocate and consultant in Washington, DC to learn more about city planning and the data needed to make good decisions. First and foremost, we wanted to hear some common misconceptions he has encountered as part of this role.
He also had some suggestions forurban developmentadvocates. “When advocating, don’t use examples fromEuropeor Portland/far away states. The elected have a hard time with that. Use best practice examples closer to home. Relatedly, while every place is unique, few are so exceptional that they can’t be compared to and learn from other places.”
“I argue that the point of planning and zoning is to improve quality of life. When it doesn’t do that routinely it’s an indicator that the processes are flawed. And, developers are the leads, not planners. Plans shape what can be done, but only with vision. And elected officials listen to developers a lot more than planners.”
City planners spend a lot of time looking at maps, but we wanted to hear, in his words, what are the things they aim to accomplish. “Stephen Semes writes about the importance of “the architecture of the ensemble.” Our planning and zoning processes aren’t designed to produce or maintain “nice” places.”
“This is true for both residential and commercial areas. Developers only have to care about their lot. Not connecting to and strengthening the broader district,” he shared. If you want to see more of his work, you can explore Richard’sblogwhere he writes about his thoughts and experiences.
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