URBAN INTERVENTION, PROSPERITY AND WELL-BEING
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52195/pm.v18i1.709Abstract
Friedrich Hayek argued that interventionism manipulates “local knowledge” within a society and is therefore detrimental to its economy. Following an explanation on how interventionism can alter the character of people through the case-study of legal positivism, this essay focusses on the manipulation of a city’s local knowledge through “rationalistic urban planning” in particular. After contextualizing the debate between Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses, this essay strengthens the arguments made by Sanford Ikeda on how urban interventionism stifles human action and erodes the entrepreneurial creativity of a city’s people, having destructive consequences on both the economic vibrance and the mental state of individuals. The subversion of social interactions that results from top-down urban planning is argued to be destructive to the mindset of perseverance and responsibility, which makes this topic essential to the Austrian critique of the current dominant economic and societal paradigm.
Keywords: Urban planning | Interventionism | Local knowledge | Spontaneous order.
JEL Classification: A13, B53, I31, Z13.
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