Public Policy

All the land use wonks out there should check out this article from Slate.com:

Don't Plan On It: Centralized city planning is not the answer to the problems facing America's cities.

The author chronicles the decline of America's faith in city planning since the 60's and 70's.  He also discusses how private sector actors including real estate developers and non-profits like historic-preservation societies and downtown councils (or chambers of commerce) are increasingly shaping how communities grow and develop.

It is not a long article, but if you don't take the time to read it, this quote pretty much sums it up:

"The important lesson is not that city planning is unimportant but, rather, that urban development should not be implemented by the public sector alone and that in a democracy, a vision of the future city will best emerge from the marketplace."