Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Talking Headways Podcast: Critiquing the Language of Planners
This week, Robin Rather of Collective Strength joins the podcast to talk about missteps in the planning profession - including how things go wrong with language. Robin shares how she got to thinking about urban issues and why she believes current planning practice is stuck in the 1990s. We discuss the often jargon-filled language the profession uses, taking a paragraph from Austin’s current zoning code rewrite to illustrate.
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Excellent episode, especially the discussion of "fairness."
One thing I wish would have been addressed is the claim that planners can "just be pushing to get [a plan/project] done." While I think this is absolutely true, it is very often the result of external forces (pressure from policymakers, funding cycles, developer pressures, etc.). I think it's something that's acknowledged as a simple reality of the field, but there's very little discussion on how to push back as an individual planner or project manager.
It's one thing to engage community groups and stakeholders to let them drive the process. It's another thing entirely to answer that direct email from an elected official that wants to get this done, or the developer that's out bad-mouthing the department.
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