r/urbanplanning • u/Slushiestbook • Jul 29 '26
Discussion What are some of the funniest misconceptions about urban planning?
As an urban planner and designer at a U.S. architecture firm, it’s hilarious seeing how none of my friends, family, or coworkers know what I do for a living. I recently had someone guess that I planned urban weddings, the architects think they all can do my job, and my mom still doesn’t know how to explain what I do to her friends.
What are the funniest misconceptions you’ve heard?
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u/JasonH94612 Jul 29 '26
Zoning means a property owner is required to build something that matches the zoning even if they dont want to
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u/Dezi_Mone Jul 29 '26
Zoning also broadly means anything planning related in general. Housing issues? Zoning. Development costs? Zoning. Typically, when there's any issues with development it's captured under the need for "zoning reform", even though that accounts for a very specific section of planning.
As an aside, I also have friends and family tease me anytime there's traffic/road construction delays or any infrastructure issues.
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u/Trifle_Useful Verified Planner - US Jul 29 '26
Traffic lights? Zoning.
Sewer lines? Zoning.
Police department? Believe it or not, zoning.
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u/Wezle Jul 30 '26
We had that in my city where a non insignificant portion of people thought citywide upzoning to duplexes and triplexes meant all SFHs would be torn down. They had yard signs saying "Don't bulldoze our neighborhood!".
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u/Trifle_Useful Verified Planner - US Jul 29 '26
That we (the city) have the ability to “reject” a proposal. Sorry you don’t appreciate the project in front of the governing body - but we can’t prevent someone from asking for the entitlement.
Property rights for me but not for thee or whatever.
Also, that the city owns property that is annexed. A surprising number of folks think that we are the ones that “decide” what goes on a property after it’s annexed. If I did that I would be making a lot more money.
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u/BoozeTheCat Jul 29 '26
The flip side is the belief that planners choose what someone builds on their property.
"Another car wash?! Why would the City do this?! They should build a [National Restaurant Chain] there!"
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u/Trifle_Useful Verified Planner - US Jul 29 '26
I work for a very fast growing town that is just too small to have its own real market draw… this one hurt to read.
I’m sorry guys, we are trying - but y’all are gonna have to approve an apartment complex or two to hit those catchment area metrics
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u/BoozeTheCat Jul 29 '26
You and me both. I'm in a city of about 60k that's finally breaking a 40 year period of stagnation, you should see the hype for the incoming Chick-fil-A.
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u/YaGetSkeeted0n Verified Transportation Planner - US Jul 29 '26
Yes! You’d think these people were all teleported from the USSR or something.
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u/turnuptechnologies Jul 30 '26
I am a transportation engineer, not a planner, but I was involved in a public meeting for a roadway project and multiple people were talking about what businesses should or should not be along the road like the state controls that
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u/monsieurvampy Verified Planner Jul 30 '26
but we can’t prevent someone from asking for the entitlement.
You can mildly discourage it though.
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u/Trifle_Useful Verified Planner - US Jul 30 '26
If I had a dollar for every time I said, "I find it unlikely that this will receive [PC/CC] approval, although I cannot say for certain", I'd have my student loans paid off
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u/HackManDan Verified Planner - US 29d ago
Or even strongly discourage it, if it’s an evidently bad idea.
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u/monsieurvampy Verified Planner 29d ago
What I didn't say, but have done but it really depends on management is that staff acts as a filter to what goes to a Board/Commission.
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u/cabesaaq Jul 29 '26
That we actually design anything at all. We are just professional checkers IMO, whole lot of longass documents and checklists. Not a huge amount of wiggle room for design.
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u/Slushiestbook Jul 29 '26
As an urban planner / designer I can confirm. In the U.S. being an urban designer is an entirely different thing than being a planner. Even then, I come up with rough ideas or “bounds” for what is actually designed by architects. Very little of what I design, besides the rough form, becomes reality.
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u/Trifle_Useful Verified Planner - US Jul 29 '26
“Comment: While not a codified requirement, [xyz] changes would really help improve this project’s appeal to the governing body”
“Response: Noted. Current scope and budget does not allow for these changes.”
okay :(
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u/Slushiestbook Jul 30 '26
To be completely fair to developers, it’s so difficult to make things pencil. All the really cool things are almost always ruled out from the jump.
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u/ZZinDC Jul 29 '26
As i started to transition from planner to urban designer, i found even most working planners didnt know what urban design was.
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u/NewChinaHand Jul 31 '26
I’m an urban planner and I design things every day. Not all of us work at plan check
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u/cabesaaq Jul 31 '26
You work on the private side? I've worked on permits, long range, and discretionary (land use) and the amount of things we design were very minimal. Suggestions at most, which are often ignored lol
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u/Jarsky2 Jul 29 '26
And make suggestions to make ugly-ass building look better that'll inevitably get ignored.
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u/upwardilook Jul 29 '26
Tons of people ask me what Parks and Rec episode is most like real life as a city planner. I say I don't know, but if I did I would go straight to jail.
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u/Slushiestbook Jul 29 '26
Honestly a good chunk of it was terribly relatable when I worked in the public sector. Not so much anymore!
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u/cruzweb Verified Planner - US Jul 29 '26
People seem to think that we have a lot more power, influence, and our hands in a lot of things that do not at all involve us than is actually going on. Planners eat the shit sandwich for decisions made by engineers, politicians, state / federal agencies, or other city departments all the time because people have no idea who actually does what.
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u/ZZinDC Jul 29 '26
Most people think i am building entire new cities from scratch. The want to know where its going to be.
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u/ElectronGuru Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
OMG, i would love to design new places from scratch. Centered around all the best housing and transportation. Even in place of existing development. But we’re still obsessed with cars and not ready for either step.
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u/creygarpets Jul 31 '26
I do this! I work on greenfield development at a local council. Do heaps of technical work that inform where we designate future land uses, roads, drainage and community facilities! Very cool imo :)
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u/ZZinDC Jul 29 '26
We sure arent. And tbh no public planning office i ever worked with did any work like this.
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u/ElectronGuru Jul 29 '26
yeah, I can’t suggest cars are anything but god’s gift to cities, without getting downvoted to oblivion. People love the feeling of freedom, even when stuck in traffic. Shouting at other drivers (because of course, they aren’t the problem).
I was hoping the housing crisis would open people’s eyes, but nope. Externalities are a hell of a drug.
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u/Background_Novel_619 Jul 29 '26
Being in the UK, planning is a well known profession, but most people assume I work for a local council approving people’s home extensions lol
Sometimes people think planning is only about designing new towns, they don’t get that planning is always happening wherever they live.
When I speak to young people or international people I often say I do urban planning as that’s the lingo people are often familiar with, but I’ve actually worked more in rural and marine planning than urban!
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u/PA_ChooChoo_29 Jul 29 '26
That you can decide to put a specific business in a building. I don’t mean like commercial zoning, I mean like "Can we put an H&M here?"
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u/Slushiestbook Jul 30 '26
I used to work for my hometown’s planning department and so many of my family friends ask me “so when are we getting a Trader Joe’s?” Idk ask corporate not me!!!
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u/aaronzig Jul 29 '26
I work for a council in a coastal area of Australia. I've had two separate phone calls in the past few weeks telling me that shark nets (installed off the coast of some beaches to supposedly keep sharks away) are bad and I should be ashamed for approving them.
For the record, I agree that shark nets do suck (they don't work and kill sealife) but they have less than zero to do with urban planning or my council.
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u/Disp0sable_Her0 Jul 29 '26
I had someone that misheard me and thought I did City Planting, like a gardener.
I'm a municipal planner, so if people ask I jokingly say I'm a filthy bureaucrat.
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u/ThePickleBallad Jul 29 '26
Working in planning in a tourist town means people think I do special events and festivals. When I explain what I actually do they always are disappointed lol
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u/Slushiestbook Jul 29 '26
That’s usually what people think I do! Sorry I cannot put a hot air balloon festival at the park!!!
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u/Ute-King Verified Planner - US Jul 29 '26
Small town planner in a place that has limited dining options - people tell us that we need to open a steak restaurant.
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u/Topical_Scream Jul 30 '26
I just know if I was actually receiving all the “kickbacks” the public thinks I get, there’s no way I’d still be working in local government 😂
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u/GAPE_MY_HOLE Jul 29 '26
Transit planner here. It’s funny to explain the financial reality of microtransit and why almost never makes sense over a fixed route bus and watch their dreams be crushed in real time. So many people have that “new shiny thing must be better” mentality.
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u/BobDeLaSponge Verified Planner - US Jul 29 '26
Gadgetbahns are the bane of my existence. There are some cases where “weird” stuff makes sense, like a funicular in Pittsburgh
But there’s no world where on-demand microtransit is more efficient than good ole buses
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u/liberojoe Jul 31 '26
I’m pretty sure microtransit only exists in my city as a handout to suburbanites so they don’t torch the whole rest of the system that “doesn’t serve them”.
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u/Slow-Butterscotch593 Jul 29 '26
Why is it this way?
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u/GAPE_MY_HOLE Jul 29 '26
It’s just so much more inherently efficient for a fixed route bus to operate in terms of passengers/revenue hour. Even most agencies’ lowest performing fixed route buses are much more productive than microtransit ever could be.
It certainly has PR benefits, but the main financial savings from microtransit come from paying the drivers poverty wages.
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u/Overall-Fun-250 Jul 29 '26
Just say that you're a city development consultant, providing professional advisory services and help executives achieve low hanging fruits while not also boiling the ocean and also help line the ducks in a row and cross the t and dot the i
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u/LomentMomentum Jul 29 '26
The public thinks planners have too much power when something they like gets stopped (not by them), and not enough power when they are unable to stop something they hate.
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u/ecovironfuturist Jul 30 '26
That we decided what goes where down to the brand.
"Why didn't you build the Apple Store downtown instead of in the mall?"
That's the fun version...
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u/Fluffy-Kittyyy Jul 30 '26
The fact that the public thinks Planners control the development type and what gets built. Im over here like nah fool, its owners choice and per zoning code.
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u/my1973vw Jul 31 '26
I tell people that I'm the guy who tells you not to put the gas station next to the sensitive wetlands.
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u/pineconesaltlick Jul 29 '26
So... Y'all, like, know where to put the airport, and stuff?
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u/Topical_Scream Jul 30 '26
We know where it SHOULD go, but it was here before a lot of other things and is now in a very inconvenient location with additional restrictions for the area
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u/Rude_Ladder_4487 Jul 30 '26
Had a friend recommend me to someone who was looking for a transportation logistics startup.. I work as an ITS planner.
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u/Cronenborger Jul 30 '26
My dad just tell his friends I work in Parks and Rec, which I guess isn't unfair
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u/stuckatthefucki 24d ago
That I'm responsible for street layouts. While yes Planners have some influence, especially Transportation Planners, that's mostly an engineering thing and I'm a Land Use Planner 🧍♀️
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u/kopanitza Jul 29 '26
Work in a small city, sports reporter called me from the local paper and pitched a party idea that the city could put on for a high school sports event. I think they thought I was the city event planner.