The Twisted Sisters: Disputing Iconic Urban Design

An analysis of a dispute over high-rise buildings proposed for downtown Halifax, Canada, reveals the ascendance of new popular theories affecting planning discourse, processes, and outcomes. The dispute pitted advocates of iconic urban design against groups committed to heritage conservation in an older urban district. Project proponents employed urban design ideas to weaken heritage protection (historic preservation) and used creative class arguments to support high-rise structures in a low-rise zone. The case provided part of the context within which the city ultimately developed urban design policies and plan processes that substitute public participation with professional expertise