An Overview: Sensitivities of Compulsive and Planned Change

Although the correlation between change and planning is often negative, the subjects of planning and change command a growing public awareness. In consequence, planning as a professional activity has gained increased status. The social planner—the urban, regional, systems planner—is finding it necessary to become familiar with many disciplines. The successful planner must see the broad picture, and in addition to his own area of specialization, he must reach out to synthesize all available data on human social processes. The routine departmentalized approach to planning for change has not worked and will not work in designing for better man-nature relationships and manageable institutions. In the end, the planning syndrome, that is, the accretion of many kinds of knowledge to the objective of socio-economic and political planning, may solve our urban and other human crises.