Neoliberal Planning

1. PLAN 3022: Planning History & Theory
Week 09: Neoliberalism and Growth Machine
Anuradha Mukherji
Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning

2. Conventional Planning: Use of plans and regulations to guide the use of land
• Increasingly discredited starting in 1970s
• Planning turned from regulating urban growth to encouraging it by any and all
possible means
• Cities seen as machines for wealth creation, and planning to aid in this
• Planner began to identify with the developer, who had earlier been an adversary
• Regulatory planning never strong in the US, development and tradition of
enterprise were prioritized
Conventional Planning Reversal

3. STRUCTURAL CAUSE
• Root cause economic
• Industrial regions faced overseas competition, falling profits, and business
restructuring – Runaway plants, shutdowns, permanent cutbacks
• Land use planning had flourished during the boom of 1950s & 60s
• A means to guide and control explosive physical growth
• The great recession of 1970s and 80s changed the nature of planning
• Nature of basic perceived problem that planning dealt with had changed
(explosive growth)
• Threatened the very legitimacy of planning
Conventional Planning Reversal

4. THE CHANGE
• Neo-conservative thought: Planning distorted and inhibited the operation of
market forces, forcing industrialists to take sub-optimal location decisions
throttling entrepreneurship
• Planning to no longer control and guide growth
• Instead, to generate growth promoting activities at all cost
• Through 1970s and 80s as inner cities hemorrhage, most authorities had
economic development offices under various names
• Planners took these jobs as well, reversing their traditional roles
Conventional Planning Reversal

5. STRATEGY FOR GROWTH: THE FESTIVAL MARKETPLACE
• Urban manufacturing was over, the search to find and create a new service sector
role of the central city
• Urban revitalization to provide a new economic base: Restoring cities to cater to
bored suburban dwellers, young urban professionals (yuppies), and tourists
• Partnerships between city governments and private sector, with some federal
funding
Conventional Planning Reversal

6. Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston

7. STRATEGY FOR GROWTH: THE FESTIVAL MARKETPLACE (ADAPTIVE REUSE)
• Faneuil Hall built in 1742 and expanded in 1826 to include Quincy Market
designed in the Greek Revival style
• The market a vital business hum through the 1800s and by mid-1900s the
buildings fallen into disrepair and many were empty
• It was tagged for demolition until a group of Boston residents came together to
preserve it in early 1970s
• Architect Benjamin Thompson and Mayor Kevin White with developer Jim Rouse
revitalized the structures.
• The 1976 renovation was the first urban renewal project of this kind and spawned
imitations in other cities
• Today the Faneuil Hall Marketplace is an ‘urban destination’ that attracts 18
million visitors annually
Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston

8. Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston

9. Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston

10. Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston

11. Creating outlet for new markets: Locally owned small shops selling unusual
specialized items, not national chain store, food and entertainment as anchors.
Serving young, well-educated, affluent residents and tourists.
Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston

12. Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston

13. Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston

14. Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston

15. Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston

16. THE FESTIVAL MARKETPLACE EVOLUTION (ADAPTIVE REUSE)
• Overtime a shift from local business to national chains and tourists shops. Attracts
large national chains because of their reliable income streams for real estate
investment groups
• Disneyfication around the landscape: Resembles real life but not urban life as it
was, a Disney movie lot of an imagined urban America, sanitized for consumer
consumption
• Losing Boston identity to some extent
• Few locals visit the marketplace, and only occasionally
Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston

17. THE FESTIVAL MARKETPLACE EVOLUTION (ADAPTIVE REUSE)
• An ambitious and controversial overhaul planned by current operator Ashkenazy
Acquisition Corporation – make it a more appealing year round destination
• Focused on aesthetic considerations and less about broader social and economic
opportunities
• Less discussion on celebrating Boston’s diversity by bringing local businesses
from underserved communities or to create a more equitable and representative
retail and cultural environment
• Replaces the food court with more modern assortments of restaurants, bars, and
quick service eateries. Plans to add a boutique hotel to South Market
Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston

18. Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston

19. Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston

20. THE FESTIVAL MARKETPLACE EVOLUTION (ADAPTIVE REUSE)
• Push back from Faneuil Hall Merchants Association
• Concerns about impact on the future of long-time local businesses in and around
the structure, the lack of transparency in the renovation process
• Boston Redevelopment Authority signed off on the plans, although it had raised
concerns six months back
• Boston Landmarks Commission denied plans for new glass enclosures alongside
the central building
• Save Faneuil Hall Marketplace coalition thinks that the public needs to hear key
details about the plans, how the structure of the building will change
Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston

21. • Only works well in a special type of city with a large regional population to serve
as a visitor base
• A historical waterfront, warehouse, and industrial district within close walking
distance of downtown, and a strong tourist base
• Every city in America wants its own festival market place, no longer a unique and
attractive resource
• Example of the response to 1970s when cities went from prosperity to dereliction
and then underwent intensive regeneration for offices, retailing, housing,
entertainment, culture and leisure
The Festival Marketplace