Mental Barriers to Learning and Creativity in Transportation Planning

Planners and politicians tend to render the complex in black-and-white. Technological metaphors play an important role in this process of self-delusion which results in impoverished planning. Analysts rely too much on quantitative techniques because they provide an illusion of science and certainty. Politicians are too easily swayed by the vivid imagery of technological solutions, ignoring the difficult, abstract questions of social values and goals which should be addressed before any technology is chosen. These themes are explored with the aid of a case study of transportation planning in Southern California