Many of the massive mistakes that you can see in the images in this list seem obvious to most of us. So it’s sometimes mind-boggling to see actual professionals who are unable to spot their egregious errors before they end up being integrated into the living, breathing body of the city.
There are a few potential explanations for why these mistakes end up being greenlit.
Probably the most likely explanation for bad designs getting approved is simple carelessness. The people who make the plans and approve them might be overworked, burned out, or demotivated.
So they simply do the bare minimum at their jobs, without thinking about the consequences of their actions. Improving the quality of the plans, then, becomes a question of motivating your workforce. You can do that with fair pay, growth opportunities, acknowledging their hard work, etc.
Alternatively, the architects, planners, and engineers might not have the necessary experience or skills to make the right calls. There are no silver bullet solutions to this problem, aside from hard work, education, and good mentorship.
However, that requires a lot of effort from the individual in terms of research and editing. On top of that, it means that they need to be in an environment where they have lots of support from their colleagues.
Everyone makes mistakes, sure. But those errors shouldn’t be approved just because they're the cheapest or easiest options. Before you finalize any plans or designs, it’s a good idea to run them by your colleagues, professors, or even your family and friends. They can give you some honest feedback. But you have to be open to taking criticism. It’s a skill that can get you far in life.
You might be so close to the designs that you miss something extremely obvious. Asking for feedback on your designs is similar to asking someone to read through an important essay. The other person looks at the entire project from a different perspective.
They might notice that you’ve made an unintentionally silly design decision somewhere, just like they might spot that you’ve misspelled the title on the cover page of your essay. Having people act like your personal focus group is invaluable.
Which of these planning fails did you think were the most epic, dear Pandas? What would you do to fix them? What would you personally improve about the city you live in if you had free reign? We're eager to hear what you have to say on the topic, so feel free to share your thoughts in the comments! For some more abysmal planning and designs, take a look at Bored Panda's previous posts.
