Few tears for the Ayatollah but many fear what comes next

The deadly strike that killed Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday came without warning, reasoning or for that matter congressional consultation. While few will mourn the passing of Iran’s murderous dictator, his death and the deaths of dozens of his trusted lieutenants in the revolutionary guard  leaves an unpredictable and combustible void in a region that’s already paid a heavy price for previous American attempts at regime change. If there’s a plan for the day and months after or a clear rationale for why Saturday was the day to try and wipe out a 47 year old dictatorship, the Trump administration is yet to articulate it. Sustainable, livable, resilient; they're the buzzwords loved by urban planners, but they don’t describe the modern cities we are living in, which are increasingly shutting out all but the very rich. Eminent urban planner Alain Bertaud says the conventional wisdom of urban planning and regulation is failing and its time to let the market have more of a say.