Political astuteness was, and continues to be, a predominant characteristic of planning pioneers and a prerequisite for achieving change.
Writing in a PLANetizen Op-Ed, Richard Carson writes that "Planners are good at carrying out the programs that others create. However, most of us are not inspired visionaries and very few of us have the political skills to make such a vision a reality. This is why most of the great planning pioneers came from other professions. Sometime ago the American Planning Association announced the top six "most significant planning pioneers" in Planning Magazine. The winners came from such professions as architecture, journalism, landscape architecture and law. There was not a planner in the bunch..."
Thanks to C. Scott Smith
Read the full story: The Art of Planning and Politics
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City of Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA)
The Pocatello Development Authority
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