This week's topic is inspired by Lewis Hopkin's How Plans Work.
Daniel Burnham, who was involved in the creation of plans for Washington DC and Chicago, proclaimed
"Make no little plans....make big plans, aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble logical diagram, once recorded will never die."
Somewhere along the way the power of ‘a noble logical diagram’ has been lost. Today there are many plans, there are plans for parks, for transport, for urban renewal, and for neighbourhoods, but within all these plans the cohesion and direction for a city is often lost. So maybe it is time to go back, to big plans, where local authorities can have a clear direction and ability to implement the plan rather than just having lots of little plans sitting on a shelf unopened, and unused.
In Canberra there is the Territory Plan, the Social plan, the Sustainable Transport Plan, master plans, neighbourhood plans and then there are the National Capital Authority plans, it all can be very confusing, in implementation and interpretation, for professionals and the public. So how do we ensure that a plan is able to be implemented in its entirety?
I believe the biggest influences on the implementation of plans are governance infrastructure, money for investment and regulations to ensure execution. If these fundamentals are not in place it is hard to put into action the elements of a plan to ensure a successful outcome.
This week’s topic comes from Eugenie Birch's Practioners and the Art of Planning. Birch explored the changing nature of planning; the literature, the influences, and the education of practioners. Over the last century we have learnt that so much of planning is contextual and a reflection of changing domestic policy. In the beginning the profession was more about art. The increasing adage of law, policy and method brought science into the mix.
The changes in the planning profession as a whole was reflected in the way that planning was taught in universities. There was a shift from the focus on practical work to the addition of social sciences and planning theory. Today this change and the variety of domestic policy are reflected in university degrees. The degree at James Cook University focuses on the natural environment and environmental and natural resource management. The University of Queensland degree has a strong focus on the practical application, just like the early degrees, which were attached to architecture and landscape architecture. At the University of Canberra the degree is heavily influenced by economic theory and the way that economic policy influences our ability to create and implement plans.
In the workplace the opportunities and challenges continue to evolve, just like they did during the evolution of the profession. So the thought for discussion is what will our challenges be? Will it be technology, the environment, or something unthought-of?
I think that one of our greatest challenges will be population growth. Growth, through either births or immigration, will present numerous problems for planners long into the future. There will be challenges in relation to infrastructure implementation, urban density, urban renewal, housing affordability and service provision. But that is the excitement of being in this profession.
Welcome to my blog on planning theory and process. As part of my University of Canberra Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning over the next few months historic and contempory planing theories and applied planning processes and tools will be covered. Each week a topic based on a reading from The Urban and Regional Planning Reader edited by Eugenie L. Birch will be covered.
