Viewpoint What is planning?

摘要

I've often been asked, 'so what is "planning" anyway?' As I suspect with much of the planning fraternity, this question usually elicits a vague response about coordinating how society interacts with and within built and natural environments. To more academically attuned ears I might even venture to present the Royal Town Planning Institute's (RTPI) more thought-provoking, but equally ambiguous, assertion that planning is 'the mediation of space; making of place'. Neither explanation normallv satisfies my interlocutor. I am thus compelled to list examples of common practitioner activities. Unfortunately, as the list lengthens so too shortens the tolerance of my quizzer as they generally fail to see how diverse activities such as transport planning, environmental assessment and community development can be legitimately held together beneath the rubric of 'planning'. If I can retain their interest a little further, I'll typically relate a litany of objectives. Somewhere in here I'll describe how planners act as facilitators who provide expert knowledge in assisting stakeholders reconcile different perspectives on a planning matter. Should I be probed on what a 'planning matter' comprises, I'm liable to find myself circling back to my initial vague response or falling onto the bureaucratic crutch of 'what is specified by policy and regulation'. Yet we as practitioners and academics intrinsically feel that there is more to planning than this. Nevertheless, trying to somehow convey what this elusive 'more' entails is commonly a challenge. This Viewpoint oilers a perspective on identifying this 'more' by attempting to answer the all-too-often uncomfortable question 'what is planning?'1