Planning For Economic Growth

According to the American Planning Association, October is national community planning month. It's a time to encourage local economic development and celebrate the achievements of previous planning projects.

I truly believe that any design or infrastructure project should be planned for effective economic productivity. I consulted with rising planner, Zachary Aders who also believes that too many architects and designers lack necessary business skills to plan for a return on investment. Aders, who graduated from Columbia University with a Masters of Architecture, moved to Sao Paulo, Brazil to work with Cities Without Hunger, an NGO that develops urban community gardens.

Many architects team up with business professionals to add investment value to their projects. The externalities should encourage productivity which ultimately benefits the local residents. Almost every urban center has a bustling market place. In Boston, there's Quincy Market. In NYC, we have Union Square. Farmers from across the region transport their food to these centers - most of which are locally grown, healthy, and cheaper. Organizations such as Cities Without Hunger are the driving force behind stimulating local entrepreneurship while helping the less fortunate. However, looking at the bigger picture can provide a much greater return that could be re-invested to spur greater projects. This reminds me of the pressing nutrition initiative, a project of Michelle Obama, which might receive funding from budget cuts in the national food stamp program. This sparked debate of whether increased food stamp aid contributes to an unhealthy population - recipients making the wrong food choices. If this is the issue, it's a great opportunity for community farming projects. Linking food stamp aid to less expensive locally grown products will provide an incentive for regional farmers to boost production, and planners will have to increase access from farms to cities.

Local businesses embrace access to opportunity. That's where planners come in. When Aders designed a walkway and middle school campus system for the Highbridge community in the Bronx, he incorporated the ideas of many local residents and advocates. Railroads create pathways to better the supply chain for industrial businesses; it's better to have those entrepreneurs at the planning round table to ensure effective community investment. High speed trains transport the current unemployed in seek of jobs located in areas that were once unreachable given budget and time constraints. To do so, government needs to encourage not only employees transporting to and from these downtown areas, but also consumers who have a reason to travel and spend, supplying the funds that will eventually become the paychecks of those commuters, who then pay a fare to ride the commuter rails to supply income for the conductors, and a return for the developers, an incentive to further stimulate the efficient economic systems. There is an inherent link between planning and regional economies.

Unfortunately, many of the great design ideas never come into fruition because of underfunding. I think the issuance of bonds is a great tool to place pressure on bettering the bottom line for developers and bondholders. A clear business plan attracts investors, but many development projects shy away from the economic return. Aders stresses the importance of designing for frugality by using existing structures to cut costs not only for developers but local users of the new project.

The Soviet Union was destroyed through intense infrastructure spending just for the sake of producing surplus nuts and bolts to remain competitive with the US. However, the system lacked economic sense. Not like the US who borrowed from the British to fund a thriving industrial revolution, improving access to cities, which spurred manufacturing, jobs, homes etc. The British received a healthy return. That spirit of investment needs to return.