5 Easy Pieces for Planners

1. How can planners and planning professionals significantly affect decisions about the physical environment? (Do planners matter?)
2. Does modifying or controlling the physical environment modify or control the behavior of people in that environment? (Does the physical environment matter?)
3. The important changes are the unexpected ones (like the Stock Market Crash of 1929 or the invention of the personal computer), as opposed to forecasts based on extensions of current trend lines. How can you plan for the unpredictable? (Does planning matter? Isn't planning inherently conservative?)
4. Do planners have a distinctive set of skills or knowledge? (Is planning a profession?)
5. Does planning really regulate land for the general public interest? (For whom do planner plan?)

1. cf. Connie Ozawa. 1996. Planning theory: Review essay. Journal of the American Planning Association 62, 263-264.

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