A way out of the status quo rut

Public agencies and consulting firms are setting up their experts for failure. I think it's fixable.

Engineers and planners were trained to be slow and deliberate. That’s a terrific way to plan and build bridges and hospitals, but a terrible way to innovate. Treating delays as the grown-up strategy is one way the status quo is preserved.

One example of how this plays out in the real world is a long-range plan includes outdated assumptions:

🤳 Mobile apps have nothing to do with transportation.

🛴 Personal automobiles are the only viable mode of travel.

💻 Employees have no way to work remotely.

💰 Developers are not interested in reducing parking costs.

It’s a big deal, because these seemingly minor flubs have tremendous implications on zoning ordinances, development patterns, parking requirements, intersection designs, bicycle infrastructure, streetlight plans, and on and on.

There's not an easy fix to this. But our infrastructure would be so much better if we let planners and engineers lean into their strengths. I think that includes giving them problems to solve that might require developing a new process, abolishing existing guidelines, copying policy from peers around the country, etc.

That's in contrast to the current method of copy/paste/tweak the previous long-range plan or corridor study with lip service to innovation and cultural shifts.

I’m trying to think of ways to motivate a methodical group of professionals who are by nature (and for job security) not risk takers.

One example would be to present an agency staff or consulting team with a challenge. We need a neighborhood master plan that highlights our efforts to:

🏘️ Allow townhouses, duplexes, triplexes.

🛒 Integrate a variety of land uses on single-family streets.

🫶 Maximize health & safety at intersections instead of minimize vehicle delay.

There is important work that requires attention to detail and process. And there is important work that requires wild brainstorming and disregard for rules. It’s rarely the same type of person who’s good at both, which is what the modern infrastructure industry expects of planners and engineers.