But even in its benign forms it is doomed by the perverse nature of humans, who have feelings, agendas, prejudices, and desires, and who will not behave in convenient ways. The City Planning Metaphor We have all compared system developers with architects designing buildings. I work in Emeryville, a small city wedged between Berkeley and Oakland, California. No one went there who didn't work there or wasn't on their way to someplace else. Eventually the Governor, tired of being bothered, gives our DA an assurance of support and a charter and sends him on his way.
Building projects stall as the committee tries to work through a mass of detailed proposals.
Developers, aghast at the hurdles being placed in front of them, start to go elsewhere. The architectural harmony of the Piazza San Marco was an accident. It was built over centuries by people who were constantly worried about whether they had enough money. Of course, city planners have been known to get just as dictatorial as data administrators. There are good reasons for wanting to do these things.