THE PARADIGM OF PLANNING The paradigm of American urban planning was founded upon utopian dreams. 1 Utopia, however, is defined as no place. The static, picture-perfect moments of controlled spaces and master plans of prescriptive notions of life created by planners are antithetical to both nature and humankind. For much of its history, the planning profession has trained designers to shape and mold cities in the service of beauty, commerce, industry, and leisure of the privileged classes at the expense of the public. With “Make No Little Plans” as the mantra, American cities have been sculpted ffrom lofty dreams not grounded in reality. “Make No Little Plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood... Make big plans... remembering that a noble, logical 2 diagram once recorded will never die.” Daniel Burnham, October, 1910
LEFT: Daniel Burnham (left) stands before the 1909 Plan of Chicago’s vision for the Civic Center Plaza and Swiss-French archtiect and urban planner, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (right), known as Le Corbusier, works on a model in front of his 1925 Plan Voison. RIGHT: A model of the Pruitt-Igoe housing projects (top), which was once considered a breakthrough in urban renewal, is pictured above
a photo capturing Pruitt-Igoe’s demolition. The 33, eleven story apartment buildings were constructed from 1951-1955 and demolished from 1972-1976 in St. Louis, MO. 3
The long-standing history of making big plans has been accompanied by limited actualization and little attention to what is needed for a healthy urban ecology. Far too many plans put forth impractical, utopian projects with speculative timelines that extend beyond the terms of the elected officials that champion them. Planners propose quick fixes to generational problems and, in doing so, cities used urban planning not to build better cities, but to divide the 4 city, creating beautiful spaces at the expense of the poor.
IMAGES OF IMAGINED AND PROPOSED DESIGNS: LEFT to RIGHT: THE LINE, a 170km conceptual, “cognitive city” in Saudi Arabia; Manas Bhatia’s AI x Future Cities with biophilic architecture, Hyperions, a self-sustaining urban utopia by Vincent Callebaut, Dragonfly Vertical Farm concept by Vincent Callebaut.
Yet, city planning and development continues to dream (and sell the dream) of a utopian future with no way to get there… because “utopia” is, by definition, no 5 place. We are left only with “noble, logical diagram[s] [that] will never die.” Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Utopia definition; meaning. Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/utopia 2 Adam. (2019, March 6). Burnham’s “Make No Little Plans” Quote: Apocryphal No More! – Mysterious Chicago.https://mysteriouschicago.com/finding-daniel-burnhams-no-little-plans-quote/ 3 Wikimedia Foundation. (2023, August 24). Pruitt–Igoe. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pruitt%E2%80%93Igoe#cite_note-FOOTNOTERamroth2007164-8 4 Bloomberg. (2012, August 24). A brief history of the birth of Urban Planning. Bloomberg.com. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-08-24/a-brief-history-of-the-birth-of-urban-planning 5 Adam. (2019, March 6). 1
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