I was surprised to see that "Master Planned" seems to be a happy selling point in recent condo literature. When I first saw CityPlace touting a "Master Plan", I thought "uh-oh!". Not that master planning ever went away, but we seemed to have developed a healthy suspicion of its merits after the second world war, when a lot of sterile and forbidding work was carried out.
Now, though, it's back big-time, with all the ultra-mega-developments happening all over the world. Especially places like Dubai.
I wonder if 'Master Planned' hasn't become a code word denoting something of a certain income bracket, forecasting a certain kind of social environment. Something like "gated community" but less chintzy and phobic, more sophisticated and urbane.
CityPlace, interestingly enough, does have that "touch-o'-Brasilia" feeling - functionalist living antiseptically separated from funkiness - though without Brasilia's consuming artistry. It's commercially somewhere between art and 'The Projects' - also master planned communities. Though I imagine a lot of people in CityPlace would suffer spikes in their blood pressure if you called it a "Master Project" - which it kind of is, if you look at is as a singular commercial enterprise.
It's interesting, too, we don't have alternate terms for this kind of thing. "Mistress Planned" sounds racy. "Lady Planned" is a bit pink, and "Ms. Planned" sounds like a mistake.
I wonder what bells the termed "Mistress Planned Community" would ring?
