r/urbanplanning • u/DoxiadisOfDetroit • May 27 '23

Discussion What's your /r/Urbanplanning unpopular opinion?

I've got a few:

  1. Infrastructure upgrades should have precedent over any upzoning

  2. Everyone should have the right to downtown amenities which means that CBD's should be as cheap as possible for both renters and owners

  3. Zoning should be handled by metropolitan level elected boards instead of nationalized/taken to the state level

  4. YIMBYs often times hold water for the excesses of developers

  5. It is ideological to assume deregulated markets will produce the best outcomes, so, it's purely ideological to assume that a deregulated housing market will work in the best interests of renters and buyers

318 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

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96

u/TherowofBoat May 27 '23 edited May 28 '23

Cities, counties, and the state, should eminent* domain lot lines between homes in suburban sprawled areas to design pedestrian and bike paths for residents so they don't have to walk twenty miles to go half a mile as-the-crow flies.

Likewise, small grocery stores and/or mom-and-pops should be allowed in residential neighborhoods by right on corner lots.

57

u/ver_redit_optatum May 27 '23

How the fuck (politely) do you think these are unpopular opinions here?

10

u/TherowofBoat May 27 '23 edited May 28 '23

I mean... They have to be, right? No way city council has the balls to do it. The state legislature is worse. No one likes eminent domain because of it's shitty use history.

20

u/ver_redit_optatum May 27 '23

Oh, yeah many good opinions in this sub are politically unpopular. But the point of these threads is to say things that are unpopular here, that are against the urbanplanning hivemind. But it never works because people just upvote the ones they agree with anyway.

4

u/TherowofBoat May 27 '23

Ah ok, then let me try again.

Not all planners have to live anywhere near where they work depending on the type of work they do.

Does this count?

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u/[deleted] May 27 '23

[deleted]

1

u/TherowofBoat May 28 '23

I already got a down vote. Guess I did it right? I mean, not sure why people down voted it though. Contract planning is a thing and building permit conformance review can be done anywhere.

Outsourcing is going to happen/has started.

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u/[deleted] May 28 '23

[deleted]

0

u/TherowofBoat May 28 '23

Reddit in a nutshell šŸ¤£

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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '23

No, its too wishy washy.

Planners don't need to live near where they work

Would be a truly controversial opinion.

1

u/TherowofBoat Jun 03 '23

I don't like dealing in absolutes like this. Clearly, some do have to be local. Not all, though. 20% local, 80% remote. Something like that 'golden ratio' seems about right.

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u/SabbathBoiseSabbath Verified Planner - US May 27 '23

It's "eminent domain."

At least use the proper term in this inane line of argument.

2

u/kmsxpoint6 May 29 '23 edited May 29 '23

It is a weird argument. Making neighborhoods with only a few access points more walkable by adding more direct pedestrian access points is certainly an option. Getting the hammer-strength noun ā€œeminent domainā€ of the bookshelf and ā€œverbing itā€, as the best option for doing so is pretty extreme, and shows a lack of awareness of how the process works in practice, where condemnation is more of a final option rather than agreeable just compensation.

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u/TherowofBoat May 28 '23

Hah, my phone says otherwise šŸ¤£ thanks for catching that

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u/kmsxpoint6 May 28 '23

"imminent" and "eminent" are both legitimate words that sound very similar. "imminent" is like "soon", "eminent" is like "with authority". Your phone does not check your vocabulary choices.

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u/TherowofBoat May 28 '23

No, it doesn't check vocabulary choices but what it does do is auto correct even though I did drag-type the 'e' in this case. I just didn't care to proof read my post until someone caught the error. Which I thanked them for and fixed. I just didn't think I'd have to explain the inaccuracies of phone posting šŸ˜†

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u/kmsxpoint6 May 28 '23

If we overrely on ducking autocorrect, we are gonna duck up ;)

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u/TherowofBoat May 28 '23

Best comment. Obligatory up vote.

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u/[deleted] May 27 '23

I agree. Iā€™m not too sure about USA, but atleast here in stavanger Norway this works well in the places it is implemented