TRACK 03: Responsibilities in Planning Education and Practice

Co-chairs: Andrea Frank, Anna Geppert

Planning programmes teach students about planning legislation and professional responsibilities of planners with a prevailing view that the governments of cities, municipalities and nation states take on the responsibility for sustainable spatial development. Yet, the move from public leadership in development to ever greater private sector dominance in urban planning and development introduces a new constellation of powers and responsibilities. Does planning education prepare students adequately to perceive the ethical dimension in respect to their professional actions?  What are the ethical challenges the future planners will have to cope with? Are the future challenges recognized and analysed sufficiently in the teaching and curricula to prepare students and practitioners for the new complexities and confrontations?