The following appeared in a recommendation from the planning department of the city of Transopolis Ten years ago as part of a comprehensive urban renewal program the city of Transopolis adapted for industrial use a large area of severely substandard housi

The planning department of the Transopolis city recommends to use abandoned residential area for industrial developments. And according to the department doing so will help revitalizing the city by reducing the crime rates and increasing the property revenues. The department gives the example of similar action undertaken ten years ago in another part of the city to support the recommendation. The recommendation seems reasonable initially, but detailed analysis of the prompt reveals some loopholes which makes the recommendation seriously flawed.

First of all, evidence must be provided to confirm that industrialization is the only reason behind reduced crime rates in the area . There could be many reasons why the number of crimes declined in the area. It could be possible that the police department is alert and active and able to catch criminals and punish them, and the laws of punishment are also stringent enough for the criminals to give up criminal activities. It is also possible that there is some rehabilitation program is conducted and criminals are changing their behavior and engage in some genuine work. So, the author fails to establish a direct connection between reduced crime rates and the industrialization that happened in the area. If, the author is able to provide evidence that establishes the industrialization as the major cause for decrease in number of illegal activities.

Secondly, evidence must be given to justify that property tax revenues have increased greatly only after this industrialization process. It could be possible that more and more people are buying and using properties and paying property taxes . Also, there could be some new laws or policies to identify tax scammers and that is why more and more people are motivated to pay the property taxes to avoid becoming defaulters. Author overlooks other possibilities for the increase in the tax revenues and if, the author is able to provide evidence to undermine these possibilities, the recommendation seems to work.

The author mentions that, in second phase of converting abandoned residential areas to industrial areas, some residents must be displaced. However, there is no data about the total number of houses, number of occupied houses , abandoned houses and number of alternate housing facilities. What if among 300 total houses, 295 are occupied and only 5 are abandoned? In this case, shifting those residents will be difficult if only 100 alternate housing is available. The author also ignores the possibility of other property types in that area – schools, hospital and religious places. What about them? If people are shifted, these properties must also be shifted and the author does not mention about this in the prompt. Moreover, it is important to consider the opinion of residents before moving their homes. What if people do not agree to this and protest against this action? Author should bother about giving evidence to corroborate the absence of all other type of buildings except residential buildings, presence of adequate alternate housing facilities and consensus of residents of that area .

In a nutshell, the author fails to provide substantial evidence to prove the viability of his recommendation. If, author had given evidence in the form of numerical data involving people’s opinion, alternate housing options and other things. Thus, without further evidence it is very difficult to evaluate the validity of recommendation and the planning department should investigate further in this matter before taking any action.