Looking In....

A quick note: If you were looking in my fish bowl you would see me on the couch actually writing! Yes that is correct, I am actually writing my thesis now. Chapter one is nearing completion (or my view of it; we'll have to see what the committee members say).

I have one week to finish another chapter: PUDs as regional development tools for Reno. Then I have to write up the fun stuff: Winnemucca Ranch: The City and Developer, Public or Not: Citizens and Collaborative Planning, and last Introduction.

Happy Writing!

If Only Planning Problems Were This Easy To Get Rid Of

I think I may have found one of the best explanations for why it is planners get taken to task all the time: Planning Problems Are Wicked.

Planning problems are not easy to solve, let alone figure out. In Rittel and Webber's article, "Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning," they outline what makes planning so difficult.

Let me present the list:
1. There is no definitive formulation of a wicked problem.
2. Wicked problems have no stopping rule.
3. Solutions to wicked problems are not true-or-false, but good-or-bad.
4. There is no immediate and no ultimate test of a solution to a wicked problem.
5. Every solution to a wicked problem is a "one-shot operation"; because there is no opportunity to learn by trial-and-error, every attempt counts significantly.
6. Wicked problems do not have an enumerable (or an exhaustively describable) set of potential solutions; nor is there a well-described set of permissible operations that may be incorporated into the plan.
7. Every wicked problem is essentially unique.
8. Every wicked problem can be considered to be a symptom of another problem.
9. The existence of a discrepancy representing a wicked problem can be explained in numerous ways. The choice of explanation determines the nature of the problem's resolution.
10. The planner has no right to be wrong. (If that isn't the truth than I don't know what is).

Considering that planning, to me, is essentially politics, (here is where my credo holds true: Planning: politics without being elected) it makes perfect sense that the problems planners face are wicked. You try hitting a moving target knowing that you only have one shot and that if you miss you will be horribly reprimanded and potentially booed in public (no one likes that).

The whole point of this article I think is to educate those out side of planning that as professionals, planners face a seriously difficult task in carrying out their duties while trying to make communities better. Everyone should read this article the next time they feel like badmouthing planning/planners.

I am feeling their pain now trying to work on my thesis, which is planning oriented. It has taken and is taking an incredible amount of time to gather all the information and to write, because this is a moving/changing target. Frustrating is all I can say.

Moral of the story: We need a Dorthy to click her heels and make this wicked problem melt away.

A Breath of Fresh Air: Island Air That Is

Finally we are reading something that is new, interesting, and refreshing. We are getting into the sub disciplines of geography--specifically biogeography and GIS. The one reading that really interested me this week was the chapter "The Man Who Knew Islands," from the book: The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions.

This chapter is an amazing blend of fieldwork, science, regions, controversy, and challenges. The chapter discusses the story of Alfred Russel Wallace and Charles Darwin and their parallel discovery of evolution through the examination of animals on islands. While the chapter focuses mostly on Wallace's rise and interest in evolution it does raise questions and doubts about Darwin's actions in suppressing Wallace's findings until his own were published.I was particularly interested in reading the rest of the book because of this discussion and challenges to Darwin as the progenitor of evolution.

While we have read many examples of good writing, I must admit that the writing found in Song of the Dodo is amazing. Written like a travel log, historical story with modern commentary works well in dealing with this potentially difficult subject.

More importantly or perhaps why I liked this chapter so much is that it doesn't harp on historical geography or the loss of geography as a science or discipline. Finally a geography writing about their subject that is accessible to all readers, not just hifalutin geographers.

Best read thus far in the semester of article/assigned readings (books excluded).