Practitioners and the Art of Planning

Abstract

Over time, practitioners, both in the “field” and in academia, have revised their conceptions of the three facets (defined here as design, craft, and presentation) of the art of planning, responding to evolving societal needs and growing demands of university-based professional training. Tracing the contents of successive American Planning Association (APA) (and its predecessors’) mission statements and several versions of the “Green Book” (and its predecessors) reveals these dramatic changes and demonstrates the profession’s remarkable adaptability. In the future, as practitioners continue to elaborate the art of planning, they must maintain and strengthen their own internal links, remain focused on the profession’s underlying themes and, most important, emphasize and reward applied research drawn from in-field experience. The Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning and the APA/American Institute of City Planning have decisive roles in this effort.