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If you build it, will they come?

Never confuse outputs with outcomes

John Dales
27 November 2015
High quality materials, maybe; but a high quality public space?
High quality materials, maybe; but a high quality public space?
Hey! It’s a length of cycle track. Measure it and add it to the total
Hey! It’s a length of cycle track. Measure it and add it to the total
We pedestrianised it. But, for some reason, not many came.
We pedestrianised it. But, for some reason, not many came.

 

When you bear in mind that the source quote dates back only as far as 1989, it’s rather amazing that the notion that ‘If you build it, they will come’ now finds itself in common usage. Of course, what the ghostly voice in Field of Dreams actually whispers is ‘If you build it, he will come’; but I offer you that fact purely to help you with some future movie quiz, not as a discussion point for this article.

In my professional field, where the talk is more often of...

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John Dales

John Dales

John Dales MSC BSC MCIHT CMILT Director, Urban Mov

John Dales is a streets design adviser to local authorities around the UK, a member of several design review panels, and one of the London mayor’s design advocates. He is a past chair of the Transport Planning Society, a former trustee of Living Streets, and a committee member of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety. He is director of transport planning and street design consultancy Urban Movement. 

 

j.dales@urbanmovement.co.uk
+44 (0)7768 377 150
www.johndales.com

 

 
 
 

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