White Elephants

There's an interesting article at Wharton's Universia site regarding new realizations of Spanish - and, by implication, other countries' - cities about what kind of civic projects ought to be considered for the future. In a nutshell, they're now thinking that the globally-oriented, glowing, big-concept efforts ought to be scaled down or even eliminated in favor of projects that speak directly to the needs of the population and the competitiveness of the city. The article's not very long, but has some deep implications for urban planners.