Master plan Quote by Sam Gennawey
““Evans [the landscape architect] took a transparency of the master plan and placed it over an aerial photograph of the property at the same scale. He marked all the trees that were not in the middle of the street or in the Rivers of America and tried to work around them. Evans tagged trees that were to be saved with green ribbons, and he tagged trees to be removed with red ribbons. His efforts were futile. As it turned out, the bulldozer operator was color-blind and they lost dozens of trees that were 50-100 years old. More than 12,000 orange trees were removed.””
About This Quote
The anecdote shows how well‑intentioned planning can be undermined by practical oversights, such as miscommunication and human error.
In simple terms: Plans can fail if execution details are ignored.
Check implementation constraints early.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- urban development
- landscape architecture
- environmental conservation
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- How can you verify that execution teams understand visual cues?
- What safeguards prevent critical oversights?
Even detailed plans can be foiled by simple mistakes.