The Ebb and Flow of Planning Specializations

Abstract

To understand the creation and propagation of knowledge in planning, this research provides the first look at planning specialization development. In assessing planning's educational response to internal expertise, federal mandates, and historic precedents, we queried the seventy-six accredited planning schools on the evolution of concentrations and certificates offered from 1950 to the present day. We identify pedagogical trends by following the arc of program creation and retirement, intersectionality, and prevalence. Drawing parallels from the most well-established subfields of social and physical planning, this paper offers recommendations for formalizing new knowledge, such as food systems planning. We conclude with the observation that continued innovation and diversity of specializations is a key to planning's resilience at the nexus of an everevolving constellation of fields.

On planning, planning theories, and practices: A critical reflection

“…For nearly a century, knowledge-centered planning practices have been identified in planning education under various terms: concentrations (1973 AIP recognition standards in Dalton, 2001: 428),"areas of specialized knowledge” (PAB, 1989), and specializations (Friedmann 1996: 98). Since the 1950s, these have included spatial-territorial planning, 43 housing, social-, community/economic development-, environmental-, and transportation planning, development planning for LDCs, and urban design (Brinkley and Hoch, 2021). “Planning is what it does” (p.88), and planning educators should recognize that these are the planning practice for which they are educating their students.…”

“…But, contrary to the impression from this book, he is not unaware of knowledge-centered planning practices and practitioners. Indeed, as a planning academic educator, he is engaged with them as well-only under other names: planning specializations (Brinkley and Hoch, 2021) and professional planners (as co-editor of "The Green Book": The Practice of Local Government Planning) (Hoch et al, 2008). 34.…”

Competing in the Planning Marketplace: An Analysis of Qualifications Demanded by Municipal Planning Recruiters

“…There should also be opportunities for planning educators to provide feedback on the professional planning competencies to reflect changes in planning education and scholarship. As Brinkley and Hoch (2018) and Greenlee, Edwards, and Anthony (2015) note, planning practitioners are generally out of step with knowledge generation to predict the evolving nature of planning.…”

Hardin’s imagined tragedy is pig shit: A call for planning to recenter the commons

“…At the smaller scales, such policies mean creating a municipal code that is supportive of home kitchens, urban gardens, and street food vending all of which are often relegated to the informal economy. Indeed, planning has spawned a new specialization in food system planning to guide just such efforts (Brinkley and Hoch, 2018).…”