San Francisco, California
9 November 2002
Dear Respondents to my previous letter:

Thank you all for your continued input.

I have received advice on several issues worth repeating, both to let you know what I am hearing and learning, and to let the rest of you know the character for some of the responses I have been getting.

1. The strongest response I received is that I should never presume to know what Afghans need or should do. In the last section of my 5 November letter I listed three things I thought Afghan planners should be doing and I have been strongly rebuked for thinking this way. Several responses: first, this is a just criticism, and any strong preconvictions I may have about what 'should' happen will get in the way of my own thinking, even if I do not voice them. Secondly, regardless of what my opinions may be, my hosts will decide for themselves what ideas they want to use, and how. Therefore, I should present planning ideas in their historical context of origins and consequences so that my hosts can compare this information with their own situation, to see what is applicable.

2. The second strong response I have gotten is that I should not promote American and Modernist planning approaches. If anything, I should warn my hosts away from auto-dependency, sprawl, high-rise buildings, and 'functional' zoning that produces single-use districts. In general I agree with the consensus against Internationalist Modernism, which disregarded culture and context. However this is the consensus of our time, a bias which I share. To present any teaching responsibly, I will need to make it clear that I am biased, and that even my selection of facts is a product of underlying opinions. To be fair, Modernism is a movement which in many ways ended by 1990. Therefore I can present Modernism as part of history and report on what Americans are thinking now: especially New Urbanism, the green movement, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
However I will inevitably present ideas as a Californian, because that is my experience. Part of that experience is studying international housing and comparative policies at Berkeley, but part of it is working on low-income housing in San Francisco as a project designer and construction contract administrator. This experience has made me think alot about how to get things done (not necessarily what they look like), how to manage information, and how important personal diplomacy and power dynamics are in any situation regardless of ideologies or paradigms.

Power dynamics pertain very much to this invitation. I contacted the Afghan Coalition through a friend I have known for 14 years; the Coalition contacted the Society of Afghan Engineers, who are offering to host me in Afghanistan for five weeks. Their invitation is extremely generous, and I want to make this short time worthwhile for my hosts. Therefore I invite further input, and to facilitate this process and discussion, I will post this and related documents at www.calogeros.org/Afghanistan. I will also include your responses; please tell me if you do not want your messages posted.

Hopefully this is the beginning of a long-term process, especially since my wife has a keen interest in Iran and Afghanistan (she was born in Tehran and has studied Farsi). At the very least she made me promise that we would all go to Kabul once both of our children are old enough to travel there.

3. In addition to these two responses, Lucien Steil recommended that I contact the Aga Khan Trust for Culture for more backup information, as well as Archnet. Following his suggestion I have reviewed what the Aga Khan Development Network has posted on their website. Indeed I will contact them now, and I hope to coordinate my work with their organization since they have extensive, ongoing experience in Afghanistan.