What planning fads of today will be looked at as possible mistakes in the future

[miketoronto]

What planning fads which are popular today do you think will be seen as either possible mistakes or not really accomplish the goals which they were planned to in the future.

Here is a partial list of some of the fads my friend and I came up with as ones which will either be failures or not meet the needs of the community in the future, or not have as big a desired affect as planned.

*Items on this list does not mean the fad is bad and should not be done. It just means that we may be putting way too much energy on that fad and it won't really make the huge impact people may think it will have.

-Downtown residential
-Light Rail Transit
-Planned (forced) government sanctioned decentralization of a metropolitan area
-Living and working in the same neighbourhood idea
-Putting more decision making in the hands of residents and neighbourhoods.
Don't take this as meaning residents should not make decisions. It just questions the total takeover in many places of decisions by NIMBY groups, instead of sound decisions made in conjunction with planners and the community, based on facts.