15 Acronyms Every Urbanist Should Know

Photo Credit: Wainwright on Flickr

Like any speciality, urbanists (particularly urban planners) have developed their own language.  A central part of this language is the alphabet soup of acronym.

Here is a list  of 10 of the most popular acronyms used by urbanists, planners and developers to describe their clients, adversaries or projects.

1. BED: Bleed ‘em Dry—a common tactic used by planners to “fix” a project they don’t like.
2. CAVE[people]: Citizens Against Virtually Everything
3. CRAVE[rs]: Citizens Radically Against Virtually Everything
4. DIFF: Do It For Free
5. DBTD: Death By a Thousand Days—another common tactic used by planners to “fix” a project they don’t like.
6. DBTN: Death By a Thousand Nicks—yet another common tactic used by planners to “fix” a project they don’t like. Related to BED.
7. DUDE: Developer Under Delusions of Entitlement
8. KISS: Keep it Simple Stupid
9. LULU: Locally Unwanted Land Use
10. MIGA: Make It Go Away
11. MISE: Move It Somewhere Else
12. NIMBY: Not in my backyard—stay tuned for a special post on the various spinoffs of this popular acronym.
13. RUID: Review Until It Dies
14. SLAPP: Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation
15. WIIFM: What’s in it for me?

For a hilarious example of many of these acronyms in action, check out Planetizens’ The Three Local Builders: A Modern Fairy Tale in Plannerese.