Contributor Blog

Ann Forsyth
Ann Forsyth is professor of City and Regional Planning at Cornell University.

Images for Planning—Free Internet Resources

31 July 2008 - 8:40am

Visual communication is becoming more sophisticated in planning, however many online image sources are restricted and require payment for use. Others, such as flikr.com and Google Images are extremely useful but have uneven quality and information provided about the images can be difficult to assess. While flckr.com and Google Images will remain a key resource, a number of other online image databases provide more consistent metadata along with free access.

Reflecting on Planning and the Planet: Summer Readings that Help You Think

29 June 2008 - 2:14pm

Last month’s blog outlined how to find books recommended by many planners—important, classic, or accessible.

However, summer is also a time to push your viewpoint a bit further. For those wanting readings that might push you to think differently about planning, the following lists are useful starting points. (And a note to planners—we need more of these lists reflecting different places and people and issues!)

Summer Reading about Planning: The Basics

28 May 2008 - 7:22am

As the northern summer starts, one of the questions I am asked most frequently by current and prospective planning students is: what should I read? A number of resources are available to answer this question. This month I look at general planning readings for a North American audience but in coming months I’ll explore readings about global planning issues, planning methods, and planning classics.

For those wanting an overview of planning issues, the following lists are good places to start:

Finishing the Exit Project in Planning

29 April 2008 - 2:08pm

My recent posts have provided advice on the exit project or thesis in planning: how to get started, write a proposal, manage one’s committee, and troubleshoot problems.

Managing Up: Your Thesis or Project Committee as a Trial Run for the World of Work in Planning

31 March 2008 - 4:34pm

Completing any type of academic exit project in planning school requires more than writing a proposal and executing it. It also involves assembling and then managing a committee. “Managing up” involves working with your committee to achieve what is important to you while also doing what they see as essential. It is a vital part of the exit project and terrific preparation for later life. Those who don’t learn to manage up are doomed to frustration. They likely will spend extra time making revisions that could have been avoided. Even those who are skipping the thesis in favor of a group capstone workshop or studio will need some skills in managing faculty advisors.

Common Problems with Proposals for the Exit Project or Thesis in Planning

29 February 2008 - 1:46pm

In January I explored what kind of exit paper or project students of planning should prepare, why they should write such papers, and when. This month I turn to the proposal, examining key issues any proposal writer needs to consider. As I outline below, the parts of the proposal are fairly standard. However, three areas typically trip up students working on exit projects: identifying the audience(s), framing the question, and reviewing the literature.

Getting Started on an Exit Project or Thesis in Planning

30 January 2008 - 3:44pm

My December blog dealt with key problems faced by those heading for an end-of-school-year graduation—completing a proposal, choosing methods, starting to write, and dealing with formatting. This month I step back and ask some bigger questions: what kind of exit paper or project you should prepare, why, and when?

Resolving to Graduate on Time: Troubleshooting Your Urban Planning Exit Project or Thesis

31 December 2007 - 3:46pm

For students facing the end of their masters programs, an individual exit project, paper, or thesis is often part of the final semester. Over the years I’ve watched many very competent students struggle with this process and delay graduation for years because they could not complete their thesis or project “book”. Over the following months I am going to focus on the various parts of the process of writing these documents—from literature reviews and research questions to time management and creating informative illustrations. To help those currently near the end, in this entry I focus on key trouble spots for those a few months from graduation.

Finding Planning Scholarship for Free: Articles with Open Access or Partly-Open Access

29 November 2007 - 9:43am

Online versions of journals have made quick inroads at universities. However, subscriptions are expensive and those outside universities seldom have access. A new generation of open access journals is making planning research accessible beyond the campus.

Some examples illustrate the range of material now available. Some are fully accessible and some are partially open to non-subscribers:

Producing Learning vs. Receiving Instruction: Tips on How to be a Terrific Student

31 October 2007 - 9:39am

As education has become more expensive students wonder about what they are getting for their money. Evaluations of faculty, rankings of programs, and internet chat-room gossip all aim to find how to purchase the best value for money given a specific set of preferences. However, it is a misunderstanding to see students as primarily consumers of instruction. Rather the best students collaborate with faculty and other students to produce their own learning.

What does this mean? In planning, as an applied profession, the activity of producing learning has a number of components. The following represent just a few of these mechanisms.

So You Want to Change the World, Part 2: Finding the Right Planning Program

24 September 2007 - 12:12pm

Many students choose planning over business school because they want to serve the public and change the world. However, saving the world is a complicated task. What kind of school will prepare you? As in many parts of life there isn’t a simple answer but a few key points can help frame your search. And remember, you don’t need to answer all these questions before you apply—get a good enough list and then investigate them some more once you have real offers.

Graduate School 2008: Nuts and Bolts of Applying

18 August 2007 - 1:21pm

With the summer coming to a close new students are making their way to graduate planning programs. For those thinking about applying for 2008 it is time to start preparing. The deadlines can be as early as December, now only a few months away. These tips, based on my experiences on several admissions committees, can help you make sense of the application process.

What Admissions Committees Look For

Planning schools consider up to six different elements in admissions to masters programs: letters of intent, experience in activities related to planning (paid and volunteer work, internships, and activism), letters of reference, previous grades, GREs, and work samples.

Truly Great Teachers: Remembering Peter Marris

4 July 2007 - 5:40pm

As an educator who also enjoys practice, I periodically weigh up where my efforts are best spent. Is it making a difference via educating students in the classroom, and through my research and writing, as they use this knowledge in their work in the distant future? Or can I make a difference more directly though practice now? It is hard to know which path is best and the path of teaching is a riskier choice. Truly exceptional teachers and scholars, however, can make an enormous impact.

So You Want to Change the World, Part 1: Networking for Students (and Others)

9 June 2007 - 7:45am

Some people choose to work in planning because they see it as a relatively interesting and stable job. Others have dreams of being the equivalent of an all-powerful SimCity-style mayor. However, many choose planning as a career because they want to make a difference in the world. They want to do good and to help those who are the least advantaged. They are attracted by the potential, if limited, for planning to foster environmental justice and social equity.

Summer Academics: Finding Faculty Blogs

29 May 2007 - 1:11pm

With the coming of summer, students finish courses, faculty head off to do research, and practitioners think about vacations. However, for those interested in keeping up to date with academic issues in planning, a number of bloggists provide useful insights into the politics and hot issues in planning education. For students they are a window into the work of educators and for practicing planners they are an easy way to keep up to date with what’s happening in the schools.

Moving Pictures of Planning History: Education Online

21 April 2007 - 3:31pm

Constantly updated, the internet has created an important tool for accessing up-to date information—text, still images, and video. Increasingly it also provides a window into aspects of history, including planning history, that have previously been difficult to find. Documents, indexes to archival materials, and the photographic and map collections of historical societies are accessible online. Less well known are film and video resources—resources that can be played online or downloaded. The Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division now boasts an outstanding collection of hundreds of videos relevant to urban issues.

Some examples illustrate the range:

If Paul Davidoff has Email Should I Write?

17 March 2007 - 10:11am

Information Strategies for Answering Fundamental Planning Questions

In universities in the northern hemisphere, April and May are months for completing work and moving closer to graduation. Assignments are due. Exams are looming. Students are too tired to write well and professors are too tired to notice. In the crunch for time, enterprising students look to the power of new information and communication technologies to reach out beyond their harried contexts to experts who can help them answer important questions. If Paul Davidoff (now dead) had email, they reason, he would have been happy to respond.

Decision Time for (Prospective) Graduate Students

24 February 2007 - 7:03pm

For those admitted to graduate planning programs in the U.S., March is the season of choices and decisions. Offers appear. Decision deadlines approach. Wait lists are formed. Even those who thought they knew what they wanted may be tempted to change their minds. Having been affiliated with seven vastly different planning programs, and having worked both as a faculty member and practitioner, I can attest that the choices aren’t simple.

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