Skills for Planning Practice (Planning, Environment, Cities Series) Book

List of Boxes     x
Preface     xii
Acknowledgements     xv
Introduction     1
Introduction     1
Stance     1
Some basic approaches     1
The broad nature and purpose of planning systems     2
Skills for planning practice     8
The development of a planning career during a professional working lifetime     10
The forces driving change to the context within which planning operates     11
Government support for planning     18
The structure of the book     19
Technical Skills     22
Introduction     22
The processes of development plan-making     23
The processes of development control and of achieving area or environmental improvements     35
Design negotiations     36
Achieving accessibility for disabled people     41
Crime prevention through environmental design     43
Brief preparation to achieve area or environmental improvements     46
The application of topic-based expertise: the case of retail planning     48
Conclusions     52
Self-assessment topics     53
Planning System and Process Skills     55
Introduction     55
The process of making development plans     58
The process of development control     63
Processes of public consultation and involvement     69
Adversarial processes     73
Conclusions     76
Self-assessment topics     77
Place Skills     80
Introduction     80
Written sources of place information     81
Oral sources, and other forms of customer feedback     84
Using the local media     87
The first-hand experience of planners     90
The nature of place-making     95
Conclusions     99
Self-assessment topics     100
Customer Skills     101
Introduction     101
The customers of the planning service     104
The key characteristics of the main customer clusters     106
Relating to customer needs     116
Securing customer feedback     123
The capacity and potential of information technology     127
Conclusion     133
Self-assessment topics     135
Personal Skills     137
Introduction     137
Communication skills      137
Attitudes, values and ethics     145
Reflective skills and continuous personal and professional development     133
Being an effective member of a planning team     156
Conclusions     161
Self-assessment topics     161
Organizational, Management and Political Context Skills     163
Introduction     163
Decision-making in planning     164
The corporate dimension of organizational behaviour     168
The challenge of managing the delivery of planning services     176
Working with elected members as planning decision-makers     184
Conclusions     190
Self-assessment topics     191
Synoptic and Integrative Skills     193
Introduction     193
Synoptic skills     194
The strategic dimension of planning     195
The time-bound nature of planning     197
Visions     202
Integrative skills     206
Synoptic and integrative skills together     211
Conclusions     213
Self-assessment topics     215
The Changing Planning Skills Debate     216
Introduction     216
Some problems of terminology      217
Changing views of planning skills over time - the contributions of selected writers     218
Changing views of planning skills over time - the views of a professional body     223
Changing views of planning skills over time - an urban regeneration perspective     230
Changing views of planning skills over time - multi-professional perspectives -     231
Conclusion     239
Conclusions     241
Introduction     241
Skills for planning practice revisited     242
The planner as reflective practitioner     250
Developing skills for planning practice     253
Concluding remarks     259
Bibliography     261
Index     274