Babes-Bolyai University Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Science The need for Planning Diana Apostol NGO Management 1 st Year

Why do we need planning? Interconnectedness – externalities;  Helps to justify public planning efforts;  Planners have to take into consideration all the components and factors that are to influence a land-use;  Decisions about a land-use affect: o Economy of the community ; o Housing prices, rates and vacancies; o The type of jobs and businesses that would function; o Human life and health; o Fiscal health of the community etc. Complexity – informational asymmetry;  Represents a condition for planning to be a separate profession and a separate activity of the Government;  Things have to be done publicly;

In small communities – planning functions are lodged in some other existing departments with little specialization; In large communities – planning is a formalized and distinct process of government; functions located within a planning department ; o Speciaization of labor in :  Zoning issues;  Master planning;  Planning-related research;  Environmental issues etc.

Specific concerns of planning For large communities with pattern of growth: avoid oppressively dense development or overly scattered and fragmentary development ; encouraging a pattern of development that gives residents ready access to recreational, cultural, school, shopping etc.; Providing the service of the use of traffic without excessive congestion; Separating incompatible land uses and activities from residential areas (high-intensity commercial activity); Providing a separate system of pathways for pedestrians and bicycle traffic; Location of public facilities (schools, social service centers); If the community wants industrial/commercial development, planners must be concerned with seeing that sufficient conveniently located blocks of land are available and that they are served with adequate roads, water and sewer facilities;

Specific concerns of planning For old communities that does not anticipate growth:  to preserve the quality of the housing stock;  housing cost questions (“how to provide housing for the community’s lower income residents?”);  to preserve historical buildings  implementing street improvements;  Creating conditions for businesses to be profitable and competitive; For communities that face unemployment problems, planners are concerned with: -creating conditions that encourage existing industry to remain and expand and -new firms to locate within the community. ___________________________________

- Great efforts oriented to the way of guiding and managing disposal in order to minimize the environmental damages Planners employed by regional organizations may be concerned with: -improving the regionwide road network; - acquiring and developing land for a regionwide park and open space system; - improving regionwide sewage disposal and water systems; - encouraging coordination between the planning efforts of the various municipalities in the region to avoid duplication of capital and interference effects.

Who are the planners? - Most common educational background is a master’s degree in: Master of City Planning or a Master of Urban and Regional Planning; - Large Agencies hire people with training in: economics ; statistics; civil engineering (transportation engineering); programming and data processing; biology, chemistry, environmental science; geography and cartography; law.

 Majority of planners are employed by government (larger share is for local governments):  Cities;  Towns;  Counties;  substate jurisdictions;  Smaller numbers are employed by state governments,intergovernmental organizations, councils of governments;  By the federal Governments particularly in departments like Housing and Urban Development (fund and regulate planning-related activities of local governments).

Planners employed by the Government are: Civil servants; Political appointees (outside the civil service process); - A substantial minority of all planners are employed within the private sector of the economy; - Some planners work for particular groups in society that feel they need the planners’ skill to make their own case in public forum (neighborhood, community groups, environmental organizations, citizens’ groups etc.)

Satisfaction and discontents - Planning is: anticipatory and reactive; serving to the public interest; - Sometimes is about anticipating and developing responses to problems that have not yet presented themselves; Sometimes responding to problems that are present and demand solutions; It is not a good field for someone with a short horizon and can’t tolerate ambiguity!

Useful abilities: Being able to understand the political environment around oneself; Persuasion – communication skills, to speak well in public and respond well to questions and criticism; Ability to write well – explaining things clearly, reasonable and in a friendly way.