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Good planning helps to create better communities and enrich peoples’ lives. We believe it is important that everyone understands how the planning process works. This site is going to be revamped and will be dedicated to the general public, it's aim will be to educate everyone on how to take part in the decision making process, and effect positive physical, social and economic change in their communities…
Planners shape the future.
Planning is a profession concerned with the design, function, and quality of cities, regions, towns, and natural environments. Planners explore a very wide range of aspects of the natural and built environments on issues as wide ranging as urban design, transport, housing, parks and recreation, and both urban and rural development. Planners work at national, regional, local, and even neighbourhood scales. Planners work in a variety of social contexts and manage a range of development, economic, and community challenges. Planning has become an increasingly global profession as the traditional planning challenges of population growth become intertwined with new challenges, such as climate change.
The History of Planning
Although planning as an independent profession developed only about a century ago, there is a long history of city planning even during the height of the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilisations. Likewise, the colonial cities of Greece and Rome were planned, as were the cities of the Americas in both pre-Columbian and colonial periods. The Industrial Revolution and corresponding rapid urbanisation in the nineteenth century laid the groundwork for the system of planning used in the British Commonwealth and America.
Ebenezer Howard, who worked in both America and Britain, published To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform in 1898 (reprinted in 1902 as Garden Cities of To-Morrow). Howard's book offered a vision of towns free of slums and enjoying the benefits of both town and country. Howard imagined people living in garden cities complete with towns, country, or "town-country" (suburban) locations that offered the best of both worlds. Howard's influence continues in the design of suburban communities Europe, North America, Australia, and - of course - New Zealand.
Why do we need planners?
Since Ebenezer Howard's time, many different approaches and models toward planning have been applied. There have been many proponents for differing approaches to planning, many of which have had unintended consequences. Technology has continued to shape our cities, affect our environment, and impact our quality of life. The problems of the Industrial Revolution have continued, and new challenges have arisen as global economies and even people become increasingly interdependent.
Planners solve today's problems and prepare for tomorrow's challenges. The central focus of planning is on the use of land, one of our most valuable and limited natural resources. However, the way in which we plan and develop our cities, towns, and regions affects other important resources - oil and energy, water and air quality, and even the liveability of our neighbourhoods.
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