Ethics in Planning: The Views of Students and Practitioners

Abstract

Planning is a moral endeavor in which planners must make ethical choices. To investigate the issue of values in planning, this paper examines the ethical views of planning students and practitioners. Responding to a fifteen question survey, the two groups of respondents differed significantly in assessing the morality of a number of planning issues. Professional planning experience tended to diminish these differences between the two groups. Variables such as gender seemed to have little explanatory power. An enhanced role of ethics in planning curricula and professional practice should shed light on these discrepancies and focus attention on the substantive moral content inherent to the field.

The Casuistical Turn in Planning Ethics

“…It is also evident in survey research that aims to understand planning ethics through relatively general questions about planners' values (Howe and Kaufman 1979;Hendler 1991), in descriptive work that aims to assimilate planners' ethical commitments to general philosophical principles (Howe 1994, 148-80), and in many efforts to develop and refine professional codes of ethics (American Institute of Certified Planners/American Planning Association 1992), at least insofar as the codes are understood as fixed and general principles that should govern action (as in Howe 1994, 211 ff.). It is also evident in survey research that aims to understand planning ethics through relatively general questions about planners' values (Howe and Kaufman 1979;Hendler 1991), in descriptive work that aims to assimilate planners' ethical commitments to general philosophical principles (Howe 1994, 148-80), and in many efforts to develop and refine professional codes of ethics (American Institute of Certified Planners/American Planning Association 1992), at least insofar as the codes are understood as fixed and general principles that should govern action (as in Howe 1994, 211 ff.).…”

“…It is also evident in survey research that aims to understand planning ethics through relatively general questions about planners' values (Howe and Kaufman 1979;Hendler 1991), in descriptive work that aims to assimilate planners' ethical commitments to general philosophical principles (Howe 1994, 148-80), and in many efforts to develop and refine professional codes of ethics (American Institute of Certified Planners/American Planning Association 1992), at least insofar as the codes are understood as fixed and general principles that should govern action (as in Howe 1994, 211 ff.). For example, some of the survey questions in Howe and Kaufman (1979) and Hendler (1991) are relatively concrete (though neither asks about detailed case studies), and work by Martin Wachs (1989) illustrates an interesting blend of brief cases with midlevel principles not derived from general theory (though not generated by the kind of casuistical analysis described here either). Moreover, this distinction is only rough: the difference between casuistry and the axiomatic approach is best understood as a continuum rather than a dichotomy.…”

Exploring practitioners’ perception of ethical issues in planning: The Peruvian case

“…Although these very valuable contributions expose the significant role of the economic, policy and institutional contexts as well as the orientation of planning systems in the shaping of ethical issues in planning, it can be noted that, at a more fundamental level, they draw attention to the influence of planning purposes and values embedded within political and institutional structures and planning systems in making up ethical issues. This reading side with the value-based perspective of planning ethics put forward by Campbell (2002), and to a lesser extent, with the work of scholars such as Alexander (2006), Campbell and Marshall (2005), Forester (1989), and Hendler (1991). Their work serves to identify some ‘frames’ planners refer to when confronted with ethical issues: (1) his/her own moral compass; (2) the aims of professionalization bodies; (3) the mandates of his/her workplace or institutional setting; (4) the goals of the planning system; and (5) societal aspirations and common goals embedded within policy frameworks.…”

‘Planning ethics’ and rediscovering the idea of planning

“… 3 See, for example, in North America: Howe and Kaufman’s studies of planning practitioners (Howe and Kaufman, 1979, 1981; Kaufman, 1981, 1985); Howe’s more theoretical work (Howe, 1990, 1992) and the consolidation of this work in her book (Howe, 1994); Hendler’s studies of practitioners and students and the role of professional codes of conduct (Hendler, 1990, 1991a, 1991b; Bickenbach and Hendler, 1994); Klosterman’s, Bolan’s, and Harper and Stein’s more theoretical contributions (Klosterman, 1978; Bolan, 1983; Harper and Stein, 1992); Lucy’s reflections on the American Planning Association’s ethical principles (Lucy, 1988); and the first edited volume focused on ethics (Wachs, 1985); and in the UK: Thomas and Healey’s edited volume exploring theoretical concerns and the reflections of practitioners (Thomas and Healey, 1991); Thomas’ subsequent text focused on values (Thomas, 1994a); and Taylor’s exploration of professional ethics (Taylor, 1992). …”

“… 14 See: Healey and Underwood, 1978; Howe and Kaufman, 1979, 1981; Kaufman, 1985; Hendler, 1991b, and also studies of planning students; Hoch, 1994; Howe, 1994. …”