One of my heroes, Daniel Burnham, famously said that people should "make no little plans" as "they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will not themselves be realized." Planning today seems to be at a major point of change. Once again, as was the case many decades ago, zoning, design, and accessibility are becoming central to the creation, expansion, and redevelopment of cities.
However, in cities throughout the country, we are only beginning to recover from many of the follies and missed opportunities of the past half-century. Half-built rail lines, decaying train stations, and sprawl development plague our cities. For the first time in a long time, perhaps since the days of walled cities, planners have released that we can no longer build our way out of our problems. It is not practical, it is not sustainable, and leaves us with only decay where there once was density and activity.
While the future of planning is looking bright, years of neglect have left us in some interesting predicaments. We have opportunities to "stir men's blood", to make our mark on the future, but we also must clean up the messes of the past generations. Poor planning has led to complicated and incomplete mass transit systems with confusing station designs, poor signage, a lack of dependability, and no surrounding infrastructure to support much of the existing mass transit. What do you see that needs fixing? Where should we focus first? Where is money/time/effort being wasted? What is the real future of transportation and how should this fit into the urban, suburban, and rural landscapes?
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