Uniqueness vs. exceptionalism vs. structures and systems

Professor Seymour Martin Lipset died, and newspapers ran his obituary, mentioning his book, American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword. See "Seymour Martin Lipset, Sociologist, Dies at 84," from the New York Times.

I guess that helped me put my finger on the problem I have at the neighborhood and city level when it comes to urban revitalization, with perceptions of uniqueness or what I sometimes call the tyranny of neighborhood parochialism.

I wrote this on an e-list today as part of a much longer piece:

I hate exceptionalism and most everyone's desire to declare their situation and community unique--of course their places are unique but the systems and structures undergirding places are similar and therefore not exceptional. ...

As someone interested in linking research to practice to aid in the development of successful and replicable best practices, the major "problem" I have with a lot of the conference sessions in preservation and planning is that practitioners don't seem to be good at sussing out best practices and structures and systems. For the most part, our sessions are at the case study level. ...

Why aren't we pushing practice forward towards successful, replicable and sustainable best practices?

Index Keywords: urban-revitalization