Ryan Anders Whitney
Biographic Data
| ID | 1641523 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ryan Anders Whitney |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ryan Anders |
| FAMILY NAME | Whitney |
| SIGNATURE | WHITNEY R A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Tecnológico de Monterrey |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8552-4564 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 12 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 10 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Planning for the sake of the plan
This article analyzes the integration of the sustainable, smart, and resilient city models into Monterrey, Mexico’s metropolitan and municipal urban policy covering the period from 2000 to 2040. Drawing on a review of four urban development plans and one urban resilience plan, the article traces how these models have become increasingly embedded in official urban policy without engaging with institutional and governance conditions necessary for t…
Mapping the actors
Community Animators and Participatory Planning
Problem, research strategy, and findings Identifying and implementing equitable participatory planning processes is challenging for city planners. Through a qualitative analysis of the Families and Educators for Safe Cycling Project (FESC), an active school travel (AST) project in Toronto (Canada), we identify a potential new path to increase the range of voices heard by planners and decision makers. Specifically, we present community animation a…
Peripheral best practices and the politics of visibility
Experimental Urban Planning
Urban laboratories are gaining popularity in Latin America as spaces of experimentation within urban planning. Based on semi-structured interviews across Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil, we identify two tensions behind the current proliferation of urban laboratories in Latin America. Firstly, the temporary and informal nature of urban laboratories, while promoting innovative thinking and experimentation, limits their long-term impact. Secondly, thei…
Trendy urbanists, innovation laboratories and best practices
This research explores the role of trendy urbanists in best practice uptake within an innovation laboratory in Latin America. Trendy urbanists are the privileged professionals who aspire to be on the cutting edge of urban planning, frequently referencing best practice policies and programmes that they see as supporting 'livable' and 'sustainable' city building. Taking the case of the Laboratory for the City in Mexico City, I illustrate that the p…
Fast-track institutionalization
The article explores the related concepts of best practice agencies (BPAs) and fast-track institutionalization. We define BPAs as agencies that have been inspired by international trends in urban governance, often opened within local urban contexts to implement urban planning best practice policies and programs. Importantly, we argue that BPAs often go through processes of “fast-track institutionalization”, meaning that in an attempt by mayors to…
What is progressive city building? Global expertise and local entanglements in Latin America
Latin American cities have emerged at the cutting edge of urban planning best practices circulated by multilateral agencies, transnational NGOs, and a cadre of celebrity architects and urbanists. Coherent with – and sometimes prompting – global trends, cities like Buenos Aires and Mexico City have dutifully built bike lanes, pedestrianized streets, and developed new public spaces amidst the frenzied global competition for a vaunted "livable," "gr…
From Here, There, and Everywhere
This article explores the referencing of urban planning best practices focused on fostering more 'sustainable' and 'livable' cities by decision makers within the global South. Specifically, I illustrate the role of English-language media outlets in influencing the policy-making process, thereby encouraging local decision makers to adopt some urban planning best practice policies and programs over others. I argue that the media outlets that are co…
Livable Streets and Global Competitiveness
Mexico City is rapidly building livable streets (i.e., streets redesigned to accommodate pedestrians, cyclists, and public space users). Livable streets are justified by decision makers as investments to increase urban equity yet tend to reinforce socioeconomic stratification through their location in wealthy and/or gentrifying neighborhoods. Using semi-structured interviews, policy reviews, and participant observation, this article documents Mex…
Livable Streets and Global Competitiveness
Mexico City is rapidly building livable streets (i.e., streets redesigned to accommodate pedestrians, cyclists, and public space users). Livable streets are justified by decision makers as investments to increase urban equity yet tend to reinforce socioeconomic stratification through their location in wealthy and/or gentrifying neighborhoods. Using semi-structured interviews, policy reviews, and participant observation, this article documents Mex…
Peripheral best practices and the politics of visibility
What is progressive city building? Global expertise and local entanglements in Latin America
Latin American cities have emerged at the cutting edge of urban planning best practices circulated by multilateral agencies, transnational NGOs, and a cadre of celebrity architects and urbanists. Coherent with – and sometimes prompting – global trends, cities like Buenos Aires and Mexico City have dutifully built bike lanes, pedestrianized streets, and developed new public spaces amidst the frenzied global competition for a vaunted "livable," "gr…
From Here, There, and Everywhere
This article explores the referencing of urban planning best practices focused on fostering more 'sustainable' and 'livable' cities by decision makers within the global South. Specifically, I illustrate the role of English-language media outlets in influencing the policy-making process, thereby encouraging local decision makers to adopt some urban planning best practice policies and programs over others. I argue that the media outlets that are co…
Fast-track institutionalization
The article explores the related concepts of best practice agencies (BPAs) and fast-track institutionalization. We define BPAs as agencies that have been inspired by international trends in urban governance, often opened within local urban contexts to implement urban planning best practice policies and programs. Importantly, we argue that BPAs often go through processes of “fast-track institutionalization”, meaning that in an attempt by mayors to…
Livable Streets and Global Competitiveness
Mexico City is rapidly building livable streets (i.e., streets redesigned to accommodate pedestrians, cyclists, and public space users). Livable streets are justified by decision makers as investments to increase urban equity yet tend to reinforce socioeconomic stratification through their location in wealthy and/or gentrifying neighborhoods. Using semi-structured interviews, policy reviews, and participant observation, this article documents Mex…
Trendy urbanists, innovation laboratories and best practices
This research explores the role of trendy urbanists in best practice uptake within an innovation laboratory in Latin America. Trendy urbanists are the privileged professionals who aspire to be on the cutting edge of urban planning, frequently referencing best practice policies and programmes that they see as supporting 'livable' and 'sustainable' city building. Taking the case of the Laboratory for the City in Mexico City, I illustrate that the p…
Fast-track institutionalization
The article explores the related concepts of best practice agencies (BPAs) and fast-track institutionalization. We define BPAs as agencies that have been inspired by international trends in urban governance, often opened within local urban contexts to implement urban planning best practice policies and programs. Importantly, we argue that BPAs often go through processes of “fast-track institutionalization”, meaning that in an attempt by mayors to…
What is progressive city building? Global expertise and local entanglements in Latin America
Latin American cities have emerged at the cutting edge of urban planning best practices circulated by multilateral agencies, transnational NGOs, and a cadre of celebrity architects and urbanists. Coherent with – and sometimes prompting – global trends, cities like Buenos Aires and Mexico City have dutifully built bike lanes, pedestrianized streets, and developed new public spaces amidst the frenzied global competition for a vaunted "livable," "gr…
From Here, There, and Everywhere
This article explores the referencing of urban planning best practices focused on fostering more 'sustainable' and 'livable' cities by decision makers within the global South. Specifically, I illustrate the role of English-language media outlets in influencing the policy-making process, thereby encouraging local decision makers to adopt some urban planning best practice policies and programs over others. I argue that the media outlets that are co…
Experimental Urban Planning
Urban laboratories are gaining popularity in Latin America as spaces of experimentation within urban planning. Based on semi-structured interviews across Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil, we identify two tensions behind the current proliferation of urban laboratories in Latin America. Firstly, the temporary and informal nature of urban laboratories, while promoting innovative thinking and experimentation, limits their long-term impact. Secondly, thei…
Community Animators and Participatory Planning
Problem, research strategy, and findings Identifying and implementing equitable participatory planning processes is challenging for city planners. Through a qualitative analysis of the Families and Educators for Safe Cycling Project (FESC), an active school travel (AST) project in Toronto (Canada), we identify a potential new path to increase the range of voices heard by planners and decision makers. Specifically, we present community animation a…
Peripheral best practices and the politics of visibility
Mapping the actors
Planning for the sake of the plan
This article analyzes the integration of the sustainable, smart, and resilient city models into Monterrey, Mexico’s metropolitan and municipal urban policy covering the period from 2000 to 2040. Drawing on a review of four urban development plans and one urban resilience plan, the article traces how these models have become increasingly embedded in official urban policy without engaging with institutional and governance conditions necessary for t…
Political science (9 works) · Geography (7 works) · Urban Planning and Governance (7 works) · Engineering (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Economic growth (4 works) · Regional science (4 works) · Urban planning (4 works) · Best practice (3 works)