Revitalization planning vs. positive thinking* as planning

* "Positive thinking: Reduce stress by eliminating negative self-talk," Mayo Clinic

Note that I believe that critical self-reflection is a positive thing. But others may not agree.

-- "The Weakness of Positive Thinking," Strategy+Business
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Suzanne and I have a running argument about the problems of today's organizations is that everything is supposed to be positive, you can't be critical or particularly evaluative, because that isn't being part of the team and is perceived as being unhelpful.

(I got in an argument with someone about this on a historic preservation list, when she criticized my comments as unhelpful.  I replied that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, that in DC to prevent demolition of buildings, they have to be designated, and doing a MoveOn petition isn't the way you go about doing it.  I suppose you could counter that petitions help build support.  Maybe they do, but for what purpose, when a petition doesn't produce a finished nomination and landmark application, and the number of signatures is immaterial to whether or not a landmark nomination has merit, meets the standards laid out in the law and regulations, etc.)

Recently, I answered a question on a job application for a listing of your planning area specializations--my response was too long for the 100 character limit.  But my first item was neighborhood and commercial district revitalization planning.

And later, thinking about it, I realized that's why I feel out of sorts so much with thematic planning  such as for "sustainability" or "culture," even neighborhood and livability planning because those types of planning processes tend to be aspirational and very positive and don't provide a realistic survey of current conditions or the process to get from A to B, especially if B is a stretch goal.

Another line I read that resonated was:

"Mistaking a fad for innovation."

That's the first thing that goes through my mind when I read the word "incubator" in an economic development or cultural plan.  ("Dockless bikes," "scooters," "big data," too.)

With incubators, plans focus more on the temporariness and less on the elements for which incubees need help: space; short term and permanent; technical assistance; capacity building; and financing ("The Sad Story of How a DC Tech Incubator Fell Apart," Washingtonian,; for an different perspective see "What to consider before you put your startup in an incubator," Medium).

Kicking out tenants after an arbitrary period of time fails to acknowledge how important it is to have long term access to cheap space and how long it can take for a business/initiative to succeed and ("Think Before You Incubate: How Incubators Can Hurt Your Startup," Techli).

That being said I think most business districts need to encourage the provision of WeWork type spaces, to provide support to developing businesses that aren't at the point where they need or can afford a traditional space.

On the other hand, revitalization planning starts with the acknowledgement that things aren't so great, but that there are opportunities, and through the planning process you come up with a plan and program to realize them. Depending on a variety of preconditions, it can take a long time or a short time to succeed. And generally, the more money required from the public sector is an indicator of the difficulty of the prospects.

Even sustainable mobility planning has to start out with data about mode split for sustainable modes (biking, walking, transit, car pooling, car sharing) and in most cities that data demonstrates the "opportunity" present in increasing mode share but also how difficult it is likely to be to achieve high rates, especially for biking.

... the draft of the next cycle of the DC historic preservation plan mentions the importance of the cultural plan.  But the reality is that the Cultural Plan barely even acknowledges the importance of the city's built environment as an element of culture, and mostly highlights historic preservation in terms of financial support for telling community stories. 

Hey, that's important, but to ignore the built environment is pretty damning.  But focusing on people's stories is positive, the eating away of the city's architectural character and coming up with ways to address it is less fun and harder.

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Also see "Helping Government Learn," 2009, which includes my approach to developing better practice, and which I have since modified. The idea is that you start with one site, and then scale up in the duplicate and replicate phases, and then further refine in the accelerate phase.

Original list

1. Indicate -- identity the particulars of processes and structures of success and failure
2. Duplicate -- figure out how to duplicate (repeat) success.
3. Replicate -- develop the systems, structures, frameworks to apply programs to different situations and communicate them throughout innovation networks.
4. Accelerate -- figure out how to speed up successful innovation and programs.

New List

1. Indicate -- identity the particulars of processes and structures of success and failure
2. Duplicate -- figure out how to duplicate (repeat) success.
3. Replicate -- develop the systems, structures, frameworks to apply programs to different situations and communicate them throughout innovation networks.
4. Accelerate -- figure out how to speed up successful innovation and programs.
5. Communicate -- push out the final product to communities of practice for more widespread adoption,recognizing that other places will bring new elements to the model.

Positive deviance.  And "I get tired of all the talk about rewarding "failure" because it shows people are trying, and won't be penalized for it," 2007, about "positive deviance."

What I call "action planning,"Social Marketing the Arlington (and Tower Hamlets and Baltimore) way," 2008 and "Best practice bicycle planning for suburban settings using the "action planning" method," 2010.

Design method/design thinking. "All the talk of e-government, digital government, and open source government is really about employing the design method," 2012, "Illustration of government and design thinking: Boston's City Hall to Go truck," 2013, and "PL #7: Using the Purple Line to rebrand Montgomery and Prince George's Counties as Design Forward," 2017.