Whether in economics, housing policy, or the environment, central planning simply does not work, except during wartime when society has to be collectivized to fight a foreign enemy. But since total wars are a thing of the 20th century, an informed and engaged public can build roads and homes, and clean rivers better than big governments and big corporations. Communities printing their own money for their local market is also a viable solution in this economic depression. By decentralizing planning decisions what you get is more uniqueness and diversity, unlike housing policy in North America in the past half century. If you look at the suburbs or the inner city, they are almost always built the same with a few variations. A kid growing up in a suburb of Toronto walks on the same style of roads, lives in the same type of house, and shops at the same stores as a kid growing up in a suburb in St. Louis. Do you see the problem? Leaving development decisions to corporations and governments is not a good idea because they take a one-for-all approach to their planning and always opt for cheap design and cheap construction so they can make a bigger profit. When these corporations petition local and federal governments for grants and new regulations that benefit them, what we get is a few cheap designs from a few cheap corporations, after they buy up a few cheap politicians.
Here's a good article explaining the likely achievements of civic participation in local planning.
