• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

SPURS Newsletter Letter from the Contents Director Letter from the Director 2 Introducing Louise Elving 4 Collaborations 5 Workshops 8 SPURS | Humphrey Seminars 10 NEW PROFESSIONALISM Professional and Social Events 14 Bob Dylan first sang “The Times They Are a-Changin’,” back in 1964, but his words are Maine Retreat 16 relevant today as the air is once again filled with expectations of change—political, economic, and social. The question is, what do such changes mean for the field of urban planning? 2016-2017 Fellows’ Contributions 18 In the ‘60s, Dylan (now a Nobel laure- ate in literature) was reflecting upon a time filled with social and political protests that demand- Alumni Updates ed civil rights, environmental protection, and 21 gender equality. What did it mean then to be a professional urban/regional planner? What kind of a mindset and skills were expected of a pro- fessional in this field? More generally, how was professionalism defined at that moment when conventional norms were seriously questioned in so many ways? One theme affecting professionalism was a revolt against what Herbert Marcuse called “technical reason,” a focus on empirical rationality. This criticism stemmed from the argument that professional advice couched in 2 New Professionalism SPURS Newsletter technical jargon deliberately hid the political significance There are other differences as well. For in- of so-called technically devised policies. The root issue, stance, decision-makers have become impatient with according to such critics, was that technocratic planners did the slow speed of professional action; they now favor not want to disrupt the political status quo in which they getting things done quickly and in bold strokes, even if enjoyed political power. those strokes are misguided. The focus has shifted from There were other critiques of conventional enabling public policies to emerge from organizational professionalism as well. Some questioned whether profes- understanding to celebrating the destruction of policies sional knowledge was truly autonomous, free of pressures in the name of a efficiency. This new efficiency is rooted from the state and markets forces, as professionals claimed. in nationalistic thinking, not internationalism or global Others questioned the use of professional knowledge to suit concerns. The good news is that the new nationalism has nationalist goals when signs pointed toward the growing refocused professional attention on local problems—that need to protect the “global commons.” Still others chal- of the poor and unemployed. The worry is that the new lenged the hierarchical organizational structures within sensibility of localism is not informed by the complexity which professional knowledge was produced at the dictates of multiple global interconnections that have steadily of the state and market. These critics demanded that pro- intensified over the last 50 years. fessional knowledge be democratized through decentral- Most importantly, there is now a new disregard ization of knowledge generation. The key issue at the time for both the experiential and technical knowledge of was accountability: How could professionals be made more professionals. What was once considered a professional accountable to their ultimate client—the public? asset—long work experience, in To be accountable, the planning process had to many different organizational It is intriguing be democratic and participatory, requiring a gradual and settings, under difficult circum- somewhat slow process of decision-making. The impor- stances—is now considered a hin- that nearly fifty tance of efficiency in the use of time and resources (hall- drance and roadblock to quick, marks of conventional professionalism in the first half of disruptive, and unilateral action years after Dylan the last century) was downplayed by those who argued that by unpredictable leaders. There it was social cohesion that should be primary goals of public was a time when professional wrote the lyrics of policies—even if that required a long, drawn-out, delibera- knowledge was sought after to tive process involving widespread citizen participation. predict future outcomes; now, it his famous song It is intriguing that nearly 50 years after Dylan is the opposite: Unpredictability wrote the famous lyrics quoted above, the changing polit- is seen as a more effective strate- —“The times they ical, economic, and social landscape is once again raising gy to address “wicked problems” questions about what professionalism is and how profes- of the kind that have frustrated are a-changin” the sional knowledge should be assessed. What criterion should planners for years. be used today to assess good planning? Conversely, what There is a peculiar air is once again constitutes bad planning, useless knowledge, or unprofes- freshness in the new approach, sional behavior? I must admit; it is not based on filled with a new In one sense, this new questioning of professional any particular paradigm, whether norms is similar to the scrutiny applied in the 1960s—even that be Keynesianism, monetar- expectation of though the recent criticisms have emerged from the right ism, or supply-side economics. side of the political spectrum, while in the 1960s it was Yet, the new freshness is unnerv- change. clearly rooted in left-leaning ideologies. For example, ing too because its conceptual technical knowledge is once again suspect, as is evident foundation is unclear. At best, it is a hodgepodge of unco- in the blatant disregard for scientific knowledge of global ordinated action at multiple scales, from local to national. warming. Similarly, questions are again being raised about In contradiction to what we know to be the guiding what political motives might underlie scientific and tech- principles of markets, states, and civil society, the new nical research. There is also a surprisingly similar advocacy professionalism is explicitly hostile to a principle-driven for the disruption of conventional norms, of bureaucratic approach to public policy. The new approach does not procedures, and of the social status quo of knowledge pro- acknowledge the comparative advantages of each domain duction in general. Fueled by old-style anti-intellectualism, and spatial scales of social interventions; it simply asserts the new skepticism regarding scientific rigor and technical that within all domains and at all scales what matters know-how is blatantly disruptive. most are bold, disruptive, individual leaders who must be This disruptive tendency is legitimized, however, free to act. Within this paradigm, adhering to the demo- by a new trend in business practices, one that stands in cratic deliberative process is seen only as a way of slowing stark contrast to the type of disruption advocated by the the pace of social transformation. disgruntled youth of the 1960s. While the 1960s disrup- What to make of this new professionalism is tion threatened business motives, the current mood for a very important question for our time. Both planning disruption draws its inspiration from successful business academics and planning practitioners must respond to the practices—particularly in the information and communica- challenges the new professionalism poses and hold it ac- tion technology–based enterprises that fueled a new round countable—even if that slows down the process of social of profit-making possibilities in the first decade of the new change. century. New Professionalism 3 SPURS Newsletter Introducing Louise Elving SPURS LECTURER In fall 2016, the SPURS/Humphrey Pro- Drawing on her experience assembling gram was delighted to welcome Louise Elving as a public and private financing to rebuild distressed lecturer and program advisor. From the beginning communities, Elving has also led an informal seminar of her career, Elving has worked to promote social on affordable/mixed income housing. She and the justice through community development that serves Fellows have discussed how to use diverse financial, all people equitably, with a particular focus on open- regulatory, and land-use tools to create accessible ing up opportunities for those whom the mainstream housing opportunities in both the United States and economy leaves behind. their own countries. As a principal at VIVA Consulting, a wom- SPURS has also benefited from Elving’s ex- en-owned, Boston-based firm, Elving has worked perience consulting with the World Bank on housing with more than 40 neighborhood-based organizations programs in Botswana and with the U.S. Department throughout the United States to plan and implement of Housing and Urban Development on the U.S./ community revitalization programs. On clients’ be- China Housing Innovation Initiative in the early half, she has managed the development of more than 21st century. She served for many years on the board 4,000 units of mixed-income and affordable housing, of directors of the Citizens Housing and Planning including scattered-site Association in Boston and now chairs the board of housing, service-en- Homeowners Rehab Inc. in Cambridge, MA. She has SPURS has also riched housing for also been a member of the MIT Department of Urban people with special Studies and Planning Visiting Committee. Elving has benefited from needs, mixed-income an MCP from the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- Elving’s experience rental projects, and nology, an MA from the University of Chicago, and major public housing an undergraduate degree with honors from Cornell consulting with redevelopments with University.

Load more

  24

Copy Link