The Bad News:

On Friday we received word from Susan Kane that the highly regarded and independent thinking urban planner Patrick Kane suffered a fall resulting in significant injuries a few days ago.

Patrick has been fighting back from a serious stroke for several years. He has been working to bring his considerable insight on human settlement pattern issues into play, especially with respect to his beloved Lake Anne Village Core / Plaza in Reston.

We wish Patrick speedy and full recovery.

The Good News:

Patrick will be amused to see today’s The Washington Post front page of METRO story “With an Eye Toward Development: As Land Use Professionals Offer Guidance, Expertise and Admiration, Designing High Schoolers Compose Plans for Fictional Blighted Area. The professional planners that worked with Robinson Highschool were from the METRO West team. (See METRO WEST, 22 YEARS TOO LATE” post on 28 March 2006 on this Blog.) The story talks about upsetting neighbors and meeting “the cities demands for affordable housing.”

Patrick pioneered working with elementary, middle school and high school students on settlement pattern issues for decades in addition to teaching graduate planning courses. One of his popular programs was “Boom Town” about planing and replanning a Planned New Community like Reston.

Patrick worked with students from pre school through high school. As I recall he believed that fourth graders are best to understand settlement pattern issue. This is before they are swamped by adult advertising and preconceived notions / conventional wisdom.

My father’s favorite cartoon (along with “The Katsanjamer Kids”) was “Born 20 Years Too Soon / Born 20 Years Too Late.” With the rate of useful change slowing over the last few decades, perhaps it should now be “Born 40 Years Too Soon.”

EMR