Future scoping: developing excellence in urban planners

Abstract

It is an important time for urban planning, for planning education and professional development in Australasia as it is globally. As the role planning can and should play in sustainable urban development gains recognition internationally (UN Habitat, 2000) planners need to ensure they have the competence to offer guidance on how best to create future cities, towns and rural communities. As with all other professionals, planners must demonstrate their ability to transform understanding into practical and achievable outcomes. This must be the key to planning education, training and continual professional development. This paper identifies some of the challenges facing urban planning; considers excellence and planning and the implications for education and lifelong learning. It highlights the need to develop the skill of recognising and acknowledging how our perceptions of differences can affect the planning decisions we make competence in cross cultural communication is an aspect of professional education which has been under-emphasised up till now, yet it has a key role in planning in the future.