BUILDING CITIES IN A DEMOCRACY
Image: Doug Joyce
31 January 2015
In the United States of America, we believe in a democracy based on the rule of law. The thought is that the rule of law will create a better society, one that promotes Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. As civilization has progressed, no-one seems to have come up with a better idea.
Taking this idea, and translating it into how we make cities, the Democratic choice and the rule of law guides us to build in one of two ways, and in America, we've done both.
The first way is to develop a culture of reason and trust, creating a (more or less) common vision for good of the community, and then employing the best minds to getting the job done. This creates a 'virtuous cycle', employing others of like minds and talents as the community grows. As positive results are produced, the stronger the culture of reason and trust becomes. This is not a way without accountability; this is not a ticket to build selfishly or shabbily. It is not permission to say, "I'll build whatever I want, it's a free country".
The second way is more complicated. It replaces trust (after all, people just can't be trusted, who are we kidding), with an infinite and interminable reading of the rule of law. This is a culture of a new rule to plug every hole in the dam, a philosophy that no process is too complicated. It is a culture that believes that solving society's issues and problems (in our case, City building) is best accomplished by litigation. The results resemble design by committee.
This is the road we are on right now. Our design-by-committee cities (with a few eyesores that slip by, or the occasional starchitect indulgence) are the result.
There is nothing in the definition of Democracy that says it must be as complicated and painful as possible. Nor is it a license to hurt others and evade the public good. Cities are at their best when they serve the people who live in them, and are loved by them. When the people who design and build them are not held accountable, that won't happen. But it hard to make a city that can be loved by forcing our trusted creative designers, planners, and architects do their jobs hopping on one leg with their arms tied behind their backs.