How do Planners Generate Ideas?

How to generate ideas in planning is a question that many planning students ask. This can seem a mysterious and difficult process. Unfortunately, planning education has not always done a great job of helping students unpack this apparent mystery.

3 minute read

April 6, 2015, 10:00 AM PDT

By Ann Forsyth


City Planners

Mosman Council / flickr

How to generate ideas in planning is a question that many planning students ask. This can seem a mysterious and difficult process. Unfortunately, planning education has not always done a great job of helping students unpack this apparent mystery.

While there are numerous ways planners do in fact generate ideas, in my experience many fall into one of the following categories.

  • The black box—a method where the answer comes from a process that is not well described and based on an amalgam of experiences. When Katherine Crewe and I developed a typology of approaches to landscape architecture a few years back, we found that landscape architects well-known for artistic creativity often described their process in this way. However, I expect that most black box approaches supplement one or more of the others below.
  • Analysis and synthesis—in this process planners analyze the situation and use that information to synthesize a solution. This is broadly applicable to most planning situations, however it does not give much guidance about the step from analysis to synthesis. Again, I think that many people following this process use one of the following methods to make that step.
  • Precedents—in this approach planners look to examples and alter them to fit the situation at hand. This requires some analysis and also knowledge of planning practice. Better planners will have a good sense of such historic cases and in different places with a rich understanding of context. This has the advantage of being tried and true but ideas don’t always transfer well—think of a modernist high rise that does well in affluent parts of New York, in cities like Singapore, or for populations like seniors, but doesn't transfer well to different places and demographic groups.
  • Patterns—these are a more abstract form of precedent, looking not at whole environments but at components. The exemplary work is Alexander et al.'s Pattern Language, but some uses of Lynch's The Image of the City would place it in this camp because he identifies patterns like paths and nodes. (There’s a more participatory use of the book, about understanding local perceptions, which is different.) The new urbanists have codified a number of these patterns and use them to generate their developments.
  • Similes (and analogies and metaphors)—yet more abstract, an example helps explain this concept. One way landscape architecture faculty sometimes try to inspire students to think more broadly is to ask them to think of a designing a parking lot as a "park for cars." This can create new thinking—for example, parking lot that is planted, cooling, calming. A business improvement district can be seen to make a downtown like a mall (in terms of cleanliness, service, etc.). To think in similes, of course, it helps to understand precedents and have analyzed the sites.

There are likely several other ways people come up with ideas. Within each approach there are many analytical methods, precedents, patterns, and similes making each one complex. However, my point is that generating ideas is a process that can be learned and improved. It isn't a mystery.

I have written about this briefly in "Innovation in Urban Design: Does Research Help?" Journal of Urban Design 12, 3: 461-473. [Abstract] 


Ann Forsyth

Trained in planning and architecture, Ann Forsyth is a professor of urban planning at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. From 2007-2012 she was a professor of city and regional planning at Cornell. She taught previously at at the University of Minnesota, directing the Metropolitan Design Center (2002-2007), Harvard (1999-2002), and the University of Massachusetts (1993-1999) where she was co-director of a small community design center, the Urban Places Project. She has held short-term positions at Columbia, Macquarie, and Sydney Universities.

Chicago Intercity Rail

Amtrak Ramping Up Infrastructure Projects

Thanks to federal funding from the 2021 infrastructure act, the agency plans to triple its investment in infrastructure improvements and new routes in the next two years.

September 25, 2023 - Smart Cities Dive

Google maps street view of San Francisco alleyway.

Ending Downtown San Francisco’s ‘Doom Loop’

A new public space project offers an ambitious vision—so why is the city implementing it at such a small scale?

September 26, 2023 - Fast Company

Google street view of yellow "End Freeway 1/4 mile" sign on 90 freeway in Los Angeles, California.

Proposal Would Transform L.A.’s ‘Freeway to Nowhere’ Into Park, Housing

A never-completed freeway segment could see new life as a mixed-use development with housing, commercial space, and one of the county’s largest parks.

September 26, 2023 - Los Angeles Times

Unhoused encampment on dry lawn with Art Deco building in background in Oakland, California.

California Legislative Package Seeks to Address Homelessness and Mental Health

The state is investing $22 billion in supportive housing, mental health services, shelter beds, and housing units for its most vulnerable residents.

October 3 - Office of Governor Gavin Newsom

Aerial view of residential buildings in Koreatown, Los Angeles with downtown skyline in background

Advancing Shade Equity in LA’s Koreatown

Koreatown is one of Los Angeles's densest and most park-poor communities. A privately funded tree planting initiative will bring some much needed greenery and shade to the area.

October 3 - LAist

Cars passing through flooded street after Hurricane Sandy in New York City.

Federal Government Announces National Climate Resilience Framework

The document is designed to guide federal investment into community-driven solutions tailored to local conditions and needs.

October 3 - Smart Cities Dive

Write for Planetizen

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.