Great Planning Disasters (Volume 1)

by Peter Geoffrey Hall

In this "pathology of planning," Peter Hall briskly recounts the histories of five great planning disasters and two near-disasters and analyzes the decisions of the professional bureaucrats, community activists, and politicians involved in the planning process. He draws on an eclectic body of theory from political science, economics, ethics, and long-range future forecasting to suggest ways to forestall such grand mistakes in the future. For this edition, Hall has added a special introduction in which he reflects further on the sequels to these cautionary tales and on the moral planners and citizens should draw from them.

Genres: Nonfiction, Urban Planning, Cities, Urban

329 pages, Paperback

First published August 27, 1981

Reviews

[William Mosteller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had an interesting discussion with Zachary M. Schrag (author of Great Society Subway) about this book's chapter on BART. He makes the point that the subsequent earthquake, which closed the San Francisco-Oakland bridge, had the effect of paying for BART all by itself: the post-earthquake financial disaster in the Bay Area would have been much worse without BART.

[Raphael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little bit dated but a good account of some infamous great planning disasters. Good overview of a lot of theory related to large public projects, though very dense, and with poorly chosen tables/graphs.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the first half about the projects and ignore the second half if you want.