“Planners are, ideally, meant to serve the public and the public good,” says Anna Kramer, a professor of urban planning at McGill University in Montreal. Officials of the City Planning Council argued redevelopment would create needed jobs and raise living standards. This is how planning has been practiced for a long, long time.”When Sevilla-Buitrago says this has been happening for a long time, he means for more than two centuries, which is how far back his book, Against the Commons: A Radical History of Urban Planning, traces the phenomenon of profit-driven planning meant to disrupt marginalized and working-class communities. Since the era of slum clearance and urban renewal schemes, urban planning and design have developed subtler tactics to disrupt communities and the relationships fostered in shared spaces. Where are kids supposed to play together so they stay out of trouble?’ These things are all theories around public space—they’re urban planning decisions.”Professional planners still have a vital role to play in reorienting urban space to better serve the people.