Predatory Planning

Predatory Planning is predicated on a long history of urban planning legacy as a tool to uphold institutional racism, control resources and undermine people's ability to organize.  The Building Blocks of Predatory Planning are some of the historic mechanisms for upholding systemic power. 

     To see Building Blocks of Predatory Planning click here.

In the aftermath of Katrina, nearly all the building blocks of predatory planning were evident for the world to see.  Before the water drained out of the homes, redevelopment decisions were made and redistributing of land began. People began experiencing a new level of predation in planning or predatory planning. This new level of predatory planning came with highly sophisticated tools and new mechanisms marked by increased speed, scale, precision, and complexity on top of layers of existing and historical trauma.”

Predatory planning emerged out research conducted by Kiara Nagel for a Masters in Urban Planning at MIT’s Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.  She set out to examine the impact of urban renewal on the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans while observing the process of rebuilding after Katrina. The situation required new language to describe the heightened agression and complexity of the planning process, the use of multiple building blocks simultaneously and the context of pre-existing and ongoing trauma.  Thus the term Predatory Planning was born.

Definition:

PREDATORY PLANNING is the intended process of dispossession through aggressive, global-powered planning processes and use of multiple redevelopment tactics (building blocks), in the wake of existing trauma.  The result is a traumatic stress reaction called root shock and the dismantling of our cultural commons.

pred·a·to·ry
  –adjective
1.      of, pertaining to, or characterized by plunder, pillage, robbery, or exploitation: predatory tactics.
2.      excessive or exploitive in amount or
cost, as out of greed or to take advantage of consumers or patrons: predatory pricing.

plan noun, verb, planned, plan·ning.
1.      a scheme or method of acting, doing, proceeding, making, etc., developed in advance: battle plans.
2.      a specific project or definite purpose: plans for the future. 

     For diagram click here.

People experiencing dispossession of their land, destruction of their home, and dismantling of their culture and social networks as a result of predatory planning are contending with real trauma.  One way of understanding this trauma caused by predatory planning is through the concept of root shock.
 
The term derives from the book Root Shock: How tearing up city neighborhoods hurts American and what we can do about it, which examined the impact of federal urban renewal program's destruction of over 1,600 African American neighborhoods across the country.  Researcher and psychiatrist Dr. Mindy Fullilove describes the phenomenon of root shock as, "the traumatic stress reaction to the destruction of all or part of one's emotional ecosystem.  
 
Predatory Planning has a detrimental impact on the Cultural Commons.  Cultural commons are the places, physical, conceptual and spiritual places where we come together and interact.    The commons more broadly are defined as c reations of nature and society that we inherit jointly and hold in trust for future generations, including cultural and natural resources. [i]   

There are many ways that predatory planning impacts the cultural commons.  Some of the effects may appear small, such as the ability to gather in a local park, enjoy a favorite sledding hill, or cook a favorite meal, but these can have a great impact.   The impact may also be found in the loss of ability to organize neighbors, to access support, practice traditional practices, or pass on knowledge from elders to the next generation.   
 
The Design Studio for Social Intervention created the Cultural Commons Project to mobilize resistance to predatory planning and support the strengthening and ongoing vitality of the cultural commons.

[i] Tomales Bay Institute.   "The State of the Commons." 
http://onthecommons.org/files/publications/stateofthecommons.pdf

More:

For more on Predatry Planning, read Mobilizing
the Commons in an era Predatory Planning [PDF]

To see DS4SI's Cultural Commons Project page click here.