Mastering The Politics Of Planning

Mastering the Politics of Planning shows how planners and policy analysts can actively manage the implementation of their plans--and so ensure their success. It reveals how such political skills as networking, conflict resolution, and coalition building are as important as technical expertise in determining whether a plan will succeed or fail--and reveals ways planners can develop these skills.

This book provides practical insights and tips for new planning graduates and early-career professionals on how to remain focussed on planning principles in the face of the political, community and process pressures experienced in planning practice. It bridges the gap between urban planning as taught in universities and as practised in the real world, with all the complications and subtleties of dealing successfully with differing personalities representing competing interests. The content is drawn from the wisdom of scores of seasoned planning professionals who have generously shared their career learnings for the benefit of those who follow in their footsteps."'Mastering the Art of Planning' allows its readers to absorb learnings from others and hopefully to avoid making the same mistakes. The use of humour and storytelling lends a personal touch to the learning experience that resonates with the reader... This invaluable book will undoubtedly help anyone who reads it to grow as a professional."Dyan Currie FPIA HonRTPI FDIAPresident, Commonwealth Association of PlannersImmediate Past President, Planning Institute of Australia

In this book, the author believes that planners should place a higher priority on winning and be less willing to accept ineffective roles. The objective of this book is to help planners learn from the successful experiences of others and to identify, develop, and promote strategies and tactics for achieving excellence that results in more effective planning. It provides an outline of patterns and characteristics as well as guiding principles that can help planners to accept change and push the profession and their organizations to make a difference.

First Published in 1992. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book contributes to the discourse on planning theory by accentuating the perspective of public innovation. Extending planning theory's traditional two major perspectives - 'Communicate' and 'Calculate' - the book argues that contemporary planning theory should incorporate 'Innovate' as a third perspective. It highlights the multitude of new perspectives that innovative planning can bring to bear on planning theory, as well as showing how the interplay between the three perspectives - 'Communicate', 'Calculate' and 'Innovate' - can help to address vital issues in contemporary societal development.

This volume discusses some of the factors determining the political impact of the city planner on community decision-making. Rabinovitz bases her book on case studies of planning decisions in six New Jersey communities that were chosen for reputations of both effective and ineffective planning. She also uses a reanalysis of an attitude survey of U.S. planning directors, as well as a synthesis of previous studies. The materials are presented comparatively, thus enabling the reader to identify major themes in the broad and, until now, largely uncharted area of the interrelationship of politics and planning.The author first discusses the variables that influence the effectiveness of planning. She then develops a typology of community political systems in the six cities, based on such factors as power distribution, values, style, participation, conflict and cohesion, and potential for program output. The typology of urban political systems is matched by a typology of roles for the planner; this leads to a careful examination of the usefulness of different roles in different urban political situations. Other variables on which the success of particular roles depends--such as the ability to command resources for desired actions, the norms of the planning community, and the needs of the planner--are included. Finally, the author raises three important questions central to the planner's effectiveness: Can success spoil the planner? What does the planner contribute to decision-making? To what extent does political utility determine the planner's benefits or reverses?City Politics and Planning not only explores some crucial aspects of the city power structure but also shows the importance of who governs and, in addition, assesses the impact of community values on the types of policies that the community is likely to adopt. As such, this volume is invaluable to the students of city planning, local government, political science, and urban sociology; as well as, of course, to th

Discusses some of the factors determining the political impact of the city planner on community decision-making. This book also uses a reanalysis of an attitude survey of US planning directors, as well as a synthesis of previous studies. It discusses the variables that influence the effectiveness of planning.