4 ms·

> A brief sentence is expended on planning This has become my gauge of how serious someone is. Planning reform is both incredibly necessary and incredibly unpo

> A brief sentence is expended on planning This has become my gauge of how serious someone is. Planning reform is both incredibly necessary and incredibly unpopular and if you won't talk about it you are just dancing around the edges of the problem.

rwmj 4y ago
The Economist has covered the disfunctional planning system several times recently, so I suppose that's why they only devoted a little to it this week. https://www.economist.com/britain/2022/11/07/the-real-reason-it-takes-so-long-to-build-infrastructure-in-britain https://www.economist.com/britain/2022/11/07/the-real-reason... (There was another article about planning in Manchester but I can't find it right now)
epistasis 4y ago
This planning problem, or probably more accurately rent-seeking by those profiting by scarcity, seems endemic to English language countries for the past 50 years. At least with housing, which is the root of many problems, economically. Edit: and I think that the inability to talk about this is highly connected to the lack of other honesty in politics, as well as the perpetual outrage machine that results in things like Brexit.
- skippyboxedhero 4y ago
  Because those countries have planning systems which put planning authority in the hands of local govt. It is nothing to do with the language they speak but fairly obvious consequences of how the system is designed. All the UK needs to do is un-delegate authority for planning to local govt. I think it is accepted, amongst those advocate for this heresy, that local areas need to retain control over the design of houses (this is something that doesn't work today btw). But the structure of the system needs to change: if you buy land, you can build whatever you want on it. Wherever local govt has had a say on this kind of thing, it has created massive societal costs. The solution is obvious.
  - epistasis 4y ago
    I don't mean that the literal English language is the problem, but rather the entire legal system, cultural norms, and evolving attitudes about housing that spread through English language countries with cross pollination of media.
    - skippyboxedhero 4y ago
      They don't share legal system, cultural norms, or attitudes towards housing...what they share is delegated authority on planning and high levels of population growth. There are countries in Europe with identical systems but do not have the same issue because population growth isn't high enough. There is nothing to generalize from. You don't need to construct a weird theory about the media (you will notice the other replies, for some reason, have this very odd theory that all English-language countries are the same...the UK doesn't even have one legal system in the country).
    - astrange 4y ago
      Japan is a relatively Anglicized country, had its government structure imposed on it by America, etc, and doesn't have this problem because they simply don't allow local control of zoning or planning. (Also notable that when America rebuilds another country's government we never give them the American form of government.)

rwmj 4y ago

The Economist has covered the disfunctional planning system several times recently, so I suppose that's why they only devoted a little to it this week. https://www.economist.com/britain/2022/11/07/the-real-reason-it-takes-so-long-to-build-infrastructure-in-britain https://www.economist.com/britain/2022/11/07/the-real-reason... (There was another article about planning in Manchester but I can't find it right now)

epistasis 4y ago

This planning problem, or probably more accurately rent-seeking by those profiting by scarcity, seems endemic to English language countries for the past 50 years. At least with housing, which is the root of many problems, economically. Edit: and I think that the inability to talk about this is highly connected to the lack of other honesty in politics, as well as the perpetual outrage machine that results in things like Brexit.

skippyboxedhero 4y ago
Because those countries have planning systems which put planning authority in the hands of local govt. It is nothing to do with the language they speak but fairly obvious consequences of how the system is designed. All the UK needs to do is un-delegate authority for planning to local govt. I think it is accepted, amongst those advocate for this heresy, that local areas need to retain control over the design of houses (this is something that doesn't work today btw). But the structure of the system needs to change: if you buy land, you can build whatever you want on it. Wherever local govt has had a say on this kind of thing, it has created massive societal costs. The solution is obvious.
- epistasis 4y ago
  I don't mean that the literal English language is the problem, but rather the entire legal system, cultural norms, and evolving attitudes about housing that spread through English language countries with cross pollination of media.
  - skippyboxedhero 4y ago
    They don't share legal system, cultural norms, or attitudes towards housing...what they share is delegated authority on planning and high levels of population growth. There are countries in Europe with identical systems but do not have the same issue because population growth isn't high enough. There is nothing to generalize from. You don't need to construct a weird theory about the media (you will notice the other replies, for some reason, have this very odd theory that all English-language countries are the same...the UK doesn't even have one legal system in the country).
  - astrange 4y ago
    Japan is a relatively Anglicized country, had its government structure imposed on it by America, etc, and doesn't have this problem because they simply don't allow local control of zoning or planning. (Also notable that when America rebuilds another country's government we never give them the American form of government.)