Why do we plan?

What is planning? Why do we do it? Who ought to be doing the planning?

This has been a hotly contested issue for some time now, and was at its most lively in the 1930's and 40's, and by the 1950's had apparently been resolved.  The arguments for planning in my mind are simple. Planning is a mechanism by which we can marry up all the economic, political, and social levers at our disposal to create the kind of society we all want to live in. In my mind however, the debate has merely evolved and taken on a new form - what are we planning for?

But what kind of society is it that we all want to live in? It is in the politically charged question that most of the arguments for and against planning tend to manifest themselves today. Everyone has their own view and opinion of what they want for their society, it is the job of the planner to reconcile these differences and plan for a shared future.

If we have a look at the Australian context, with Canberra in mind specifically as it is a rather unique example in this country, the main argument behind the planning of Canberra was a political rationale. Canberra was to embody our grand vision for a brave new world, our ideals and values of what we thought a society should look like and how it should function.

Walter Burley Griffin saw in Australia what he thought of as "the ideal democracy", and explained by adding that, "I entered this Australian event to be my first and last competition, solely because I have for many years greatly admired the bold radical steps in politics and economics which your country has dared to take, and which must for a long time, set ideals for Europe and America ahead of their possibility of accomplishment". 

Canberra was to embody the Australian Democracy. 


http://www.griffinsociety.org/Lives_and_Works/a_canberra.html

My name is Jacob White, I'm a third year planning student at the University of Canberra, in Australia. This blog will form part of an ongoing learning experience that will be used to tease out and expand upon my own thoughts and ideas about planning in the national capital of Australia. Specifically, this blog will seek to examine the narrative that planning has followed in Canberra, and how Canberra has acted as a petri dish for planning ideas and solutions over the one hundred years of its history. Please enjoy!