The Process Dogma is not building better cities

If the process is at odds with the desired outcome, start a reformation.

Planners and engineers throw shade at each other, but as an insider for many years, I can tell you they have many similarities. One is their love of process. Without process, things take forever to get done and you don’t learn from previous success or failure. Process is good. But protecting The Process can interfere with the goals of a department. 

If the standard operating procedure is at odds with the desired outcomes, it’s time to intervene. There’s no point in following rules that no longer serve their original purpose.

Infrastructure planners and engineers suffer from a process dogma.

I don’t want to spoil your romantic sensibilities, but candles are an open flame, and therefore a fire hazard. There aren’t many headline news stories about blazes started by an accident with a candle, which must be a testament to your careful hands on date night. Good job.

In the not-too-distant past, candles and torches were an everyday necessity for light and heat. Open flames indoors caused all sorts of trouble. There was the obvious issue of accidental fires, but also the prolonged exposure to smoke and soot caused respiratory problems and other health issues. 

In the early 1800s, people (especially the rich) were thrilled with the technological advancement from candles to oil. But there was a major catch—the best oil came from whale blubber.

Besides being so much easier to deal with as a lamp, whale oil also made a terrific lubricant for industrial parts. America’s whaling fleet nearly doubled in 10 years to keep up with surging energy demands. 8,000 whales were killed in 1853 alone. The gruesome process went like this:

1. Kill whales and peel them like oranges. 

2. Remove the thick blubber layer.

3. Extract the oil by burning strips of blubber.

Even people who weren’t scientists or mathematicians could deduce the whale population wouldn’t last forever. “Save the whales!” was a slogan long before Greenpeace. But whale oil had become a highly desirable fuel—efficient and reliable. It was lighting homes, heating buildings, and powering parts of the industrial revolution. 

And then out of nowhere, the kerosene (“coal oil”) lamp appeared at markets in 1857. It was cheap, easy to make, and didn’t stink like dead whale. Almost overnight, the demand shifted from whale oil to kerosene. Dozens of kerosene plants sprung up around the country. “Use a whale to light my house? Why would I do that?”

The desired outcome was light and heat. The process, hunting whales for blubber, wasn’t necessary anymore. 

Modern planning and engineering departments wouldn’t stand for that type of institutional shift. I know this because time and time again, they choose to preserve outdated processes that no longer serve their stated goals. 

Here’s an article published over the weekend about San Francisco’s defiant grip on process. According to the author’s research, here’s what’s needed for a residential project in the city:

1. Apply for and obtain at least 87 permits.

2. Allow 1,000 days for meetings.

3. Pay more than $500,000 in fees.

As you might expect, the city’s process is not aligned with its desired outcomes for housing:

Each housing project Moss has developed in San Francisco has faced the same agonizing hurdles: months of preliminary coordination meetings followed by years of negotiations, paperwork and meetings to receive project approval — only to then be faced with an onslaught of permits before finally breaking ground.

This type of bureaucracy has long been satirized for good reason. If San Francisco was in charge of the country’s energy department, they’d still be harvesting whale oil to heat the permitting office. 

There are many reasons why local governments overlook policy outcomes. Yours probably has a development gauntlet of some type. But before speculating about motives or justifying process, at least take a good look at the outcomes.

• Affordable housing

• Safe routes to school

• Convenient bicycling accommodations

• Reliable transit service

• Calm neighborhood traffic

• Vibrant downtown foot traffic

Are the planning and engineering departments anywhere near their goals for serving the community? Why or why not?

The disconnect isn’t just at City Hall. The planning and engineering fields need industry-wide reformation.