A View from a Private Sector/Public Sector Planner

Consider the following headlines in 2012: “Zappo’s Founder Tony Hsieh Spends $350 Million of His Own Money to Make Sin City (Las Vegas) a Start-Up Hub” (BusinessWeek ); “50 Most Innovative Companies - James Corner Field Operations Redesigns Urban Industrial Remnants” (Fast Company); “PPACA (National Health Reform) Opens Door for States to Privatize Medicaid” (Kaiser Foundation); “Hampton Roads Fortune 500 CEOs Team Up With Cities to Explore Shared Service Pilot” (Virginian-Pilot). Every day, news and media channels abound with examples of new players, especially in the private sector, taking the reins of areas traditional managed by urban and regional planners. It is easy to interpret these significant changes as evidence that our discipline is no longer relevant and serves a trivial function in today’s society. I feel the reverse is true – and planning is more relevant than ever! However, the profession needs to re-invent itself to influence and adopt new and emerging models of inciting change in society today. The planning discipline is not alone in its need for re-invention. Institutions and endeavors ranging from journalism to higher education to finance are seeking new models of engagement and relevance in today’s rapidly changing world. The planning field is evolving from more centralized centers of subject matter expertise to models that influence through multiple levels of leadership and collaboration among experts. Fortunately, planners are particularly well equipped to lead and influence change in society. The planning profession’s core competencies – (1) managing multiple constituencies, (2) anticipating dominoes/interdependencies, and (3) taking the long-term view – are core tenets and areas of training not encouraged in many professions, let alone implemented

Looking Forward From Ten Years Back: A Decade of Carolina Planning

It seems Impossible that ten years have passed since several second-year students in the Department of City and Regional Planning (DCRP) at the University of North Carolina first discussed the concept of a student planning publication. One year later, in May 1975, the first issue of Carolina planning was published. Because I was among those associated with that first issue, it is particularly gratifying to see that Carolina planning not only survived the decade, but flourished. The discussion below attempts to describe Carolina planning's evolution and its significance for Carolina planners

40th Anniversary Retrospective: Celebrating the 40th Year of "Carolina Planning"; 40 Years of Planning: A Change DID Come?

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of Carolina Planning, two Department of City and Regional Planning alumni share their perspectives on the changes in the planning profession in the past four decades

Viewpoints on Regaining Relevancy

In this piece, four planners from a diversity of backgrounds provide their views on the role and future of the planning profession. At times provocative and critical of the profession, these contributions are meant to encourage and provoke further conversation surrounding the purpose of our profession and the changes we need to make. Contains the following: Recovering What Makes Planning Relevant; Planners and Planning Trying to Find Their Way in the World; Empowering the Planning Profession; A View from a Private Sector/Public Sector Planne

Faces of DCRP: Alumni Look Back on Their Education and Their Careers

Professional planning has changed dramatically over the last 60 years. The following pages include profiles of planning professionals who graduated from the Department of City and Regional Planning and have pursued planning-related careers in the public and private sectors. These profiles represent men and women of diverse backgrounds engaged in varying professional activities