A Paradigm Shift in Planning . . . ?
March 30, 2008 at 04:20PM The following article weaves a few interesting strands of classic environmental planning, ecological footprint, and early sustainability and planning innovation, such as the Awhanee Principels and New Urbanism together, into implications for planning practice that points to, but does not illuminate, the needed paradigm shift. The opening of the article is excerpted below. So the question remains open: what is the new paradigm for planning that would be an effective response to the sustainability challenge?
A Paradigm Shift in Planning: Dealing with Climate Change and the Ever-Increasing Human Footprint, By Billy Riggs, AICP
Source: The American Planning Association website (3-30-2008) (click here for the full article)
Existing patterns of urban and suburban development seriously impair our quality of life. The symptoms are more congestion and air pollution resulting from our increased dependence on automobiles, the loss of precious open space, the need for costly improvements to roads and public services, the inequitable distribution of economic resources, and the loss of a sense of community...1
So begins the preamble to the "Ahwahnee Principles," written by some of the world's leading planners at the historic Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park in 1991. These principles emphasized the challenges facing planners who design cities, and worked to establish a "new urbanism" that could guide planning in the future. The truth and breadth of these thoughts are now of increasing importance as the human race considers the impacts of cities on our very existence. Statesmen and authors such as Al Gore and George Monbiot have brought to light the huge issues facing the globe in regard to climate change.
In his book, Heat, Monbiot notes that just a two-degree rise in global temperatures will lead to massive impacts, including the loss of all arctic permafrost, the death of 18 percent of plant and animal species, and a rise of one meter or more in sea level.2 Water will increase in salinity, coral reefs will die, and crop yields will become minimal. Low-lying countries such as Bangladesh and Ethiopia will be inundated.
Many public agencies, such as. . . . [click here for the full article: http://www.planning.org/thenewplanner/member/2008winter/paradigm.htm]
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