Planetizen recently referenced (June 7, 2010) an article in Economist about the Audi Urban Future Award, in which six architecture firms were commissioned to envision cities 20 years from now for the Venice Architecture Biennale.[1] The article gives a brief critique of the submittals as a group, based on the architects’ preliminary materials, concluding with the cogent point to the effect that future planning for cities is particularly challenging given that cities evolve based on “unplanned preferences” of [my words] a large number of more-or-less unrelated individuals (or individual households).
This concluding comment prompted generation of the chart shown below, which attempts to synthesize the role of preferences in the midst of influences from the government, the market, and personal experiences. Local government influences both the market and the state of the city as experienced by individuals. The preferences of individuals or households are shaped by their experiences and by the market. The market is influenced by many factors including feedback from individuals.
Individuals have some potential for interacting with the local government through the generation of planning policy, and to a lesser extent through the political process. To the extent government wants to influence the evolution of the city’s form and functions, it can influence both the way the city is experienced at present, and influence the market to encourage certain kinds of development, availability of goods, etc., and discourage others. Input to the planning process by individuals needs to include recognition of the context represented by the chart, in which individual preferences are shaped by existing circumstances that the local government has already shaped to some extent.
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[1] “How to be urban: Some enterprising architects grapple with the cityscapes of the 2030s,” Jun 1st 2010.
