Hopkins, Lewis D. Urban Development: the Logic of Making Plans.
Kumar, Sandeep
Hopkins, Lewis D. Urban Development: The Logic of Making Plans
Washington, D.C.: Island Press 288 pp. ISBN: 1559638532 US$ 32.00
In Urban Development: The Logic of Making Plans, Lewis Hopkins
explores the logic of how urban plans are made, how they work, and how
they relate to urban development activities.
Hopkins' work is based on his long academic and professional
experience in the discipline as well as his meticulous observation of
the planning process in his home of Champaign County, Illinois.
Hopkins' exposure to how planning is done in the developing world
Nepal in particular consolidates this book.
Hopkins presents plan and plan-making--a topic seldom examined
systematically and in such detail--in a simple, easy to understand
manner. This examination of the basics of planning goes a long way
towards clarifying some of the myths and facts around plans and how
plans are developed.
The book has ten chapters. It starts by explaining what planning is
and how it works. It then questions whether planning actually does work,
if it is even important to make plans, and who is involved in making
plans. Hopkins untangles the complex systems of rights related to land
and regulations, and explains how these systems affect plan-making.
Towards the end of the book, Hopkins explains the role of peoples'
participation in plan-making and concludes that, despite its usefulness,
participation is not a "magic solution" for better planning,
let alone a cost-effective alternative to traditional planning. The last
two chapters examine plan-making in further depth by prescribing who
should make plans and under what circumstances plans should be made.
There are several interesting and important ideas that one can take
away from the book. The first is that plan-making is more complex than
many imagine it to be. Second, the general belief that plans are a
substitute for decision-making processes is incorrect. Plans are tools
that can only help people make decisions, and, depending on the
situation, may have only limited application. For instance, plans alone
cannot overcome the difficulties of 'social cognition'
(individuals as a source of the interests of the group) or the
'aggregation of preference' (the collected preferences of
individuals) that societies face. We should know when planning works and
when another approach is more appropriate. Third, plan-making is not an
activity exclusive to the public-sector. Fourth, plans are not
regulations, but they are important to the creation of regulations.
Fifth, the logic of making plans (i.e. knowing when to use plans and
knowing how to make plans) is fundamental to the profession of planning.
The book is dense but very well-structured and easy to follow for
committed readers. I have a slight problem with the title of the book,
though. The title is a bit misleading: while the book is about the logic
of making plans, it is not about urban development, per se. Urban
development is a broader term and encompasses much more than just
plan-making, such as real estate issues, economic feasibility of
developments, environmental impact, and so on. Overall, however, this is
a good read for both planning scholars and practitioners.
Sandeep Kumar
School of Urban and Regional Planning
Ryerson University
