| I'm not denying there was deliberate intent in some cases. But your own quote says "some planners" not "all planners." Some planners were intentionally pursuing an explicitly racist and classist agenda. And some were just doing what other planners did because "monkey see, monkey do" and some were just trying to do their job and get their paycheck and make their own lives work. Planners don't always have the kind of god-like powers to rearrange the city as they see fit that outsiders seem to routinely imagine them having. There is often a political process involved and planners themselves are frequently tearing their hair out about their own inability to do as they please. I've had conversations where people characterized large swaths of single family detached homes -- aka the modern suburb -- as "racist architecture" and I tried to say "I don't think that is helpful framing. I think to some degree, we made large swaths of single family detached homes because greenfield development was expedient and not because single family detached homes are, per se, racist architecture." And someone was upset and trying to tell me I was denying racism or something and I finally said "Let me put it this way: I'm sure they would have found ways to keep out people of color even if they had been building condos in towers in the downtown area. Racism is a social phenomenon and should not be conflated with a particular form of architecture." That's very similar to what I am trying to say here. If that's still not clear, I think I need to just let people be confused. I don't know how I can more clearly state my meaning. |