Is land use planning irrelevant?
October 8th, 2007 by Jim JustIs the debate over Measure 37/49 – and, more generally, land use planning itself, as we have come to know it – irrelevant? Jim Kunstler’s remarks in this week’s Clusterf*ck Nation echo what I’ve long been pondering. The days of planning as growth management are over. It’s time to completely revamp our planning program to focus on retrofitting our communities to cope with a new reality.
As Kunstler puts it:
Here in my town, and elsewhere around the country, the assumption is that suburban development will continue just as it has the past sixty years. . . My personal view about this is apparently radical – though I am a man of modest habits and philosophy. My view is that the suburban project, per se, in the United States is over, finished. Like, totally. You can stick a fork in it. What you see is basically all that we’re going to get. Not only do we not need anymore of it, but we have way too much of what is already on the ground. . .
In connection with the imminent collapse of our investments in suburbia is the fate of all the laws and codes that have governed the creation of it. I think it is a waste of effort at this point to attempt to reform what we generally refer to as “the zoning laws.” They will simply become irrelevant. As we get in trouble with oil, and driving becomes more of a problem, it will be self-evident that regulations geared to keeping cars happy can no longer be followed. My guess is that for a period of time we will see a condition of stunned paralysis in the council chambers and planning boards. Eventually, if we are lucky enough to retain effective local governance, a new consensus will emerge that will be more reality-based by necessity.