For most people, I assume, the word "plan" suggests a scheme or program, prepared and used in order to accomplish some objective in the future. We're planning our vacation; we're planning for retirement. We don't plan backward, we plan ahead. At one time, in our profession, we too were focussed on the future, on The Plan for the future of our community. Known variously as the Master Plan, or the Comprehensive Plan, it was our device for achieving that elusive objective of a better city, one that maximized the opportunity for all people to realize their full potential. It was the focus, the raison d'etre, of our profession. And the "planning" we did was to produce that Plan, and to update it from time to time as conditions changed.

It was in full flower in the middle decades of the 20th century. But the Master Plan concept did not flourish long. It was chipped away and chopped down as those grand plans languished and, as was said of them, "gathered dust in the archives". As a society, we are disinclined to forego current benefits in favor of a distant future, despite our repeated concerns for what we may be passing on to our children and grandchildren. And, in the latter part of the 20th century, when our "rights" began to outrun our senses of social responsibility, when individual property rights transcended any notion of a commonwealth, the very idea of a "plan" approached being an anathema if not a sin.

What, then, do planners do?

We can get a fairly good idea of our professional lives by examining the kinds of subjects discussed in the various journals, newsletters and conference proceedings that planners produce and read. I've not made a detailed study of this, but I do have an impression.

Think about the words we use to talk about our work: cellular towers, impact fees, growth management, variances, TDR, re-zones, performance zoning, signs and billboards, takings, sustainability, neo-trad, big box invasion, light rail, tourism, traffic management, coastal zone planning, historic preservation, affordable housing, gated communities, neighborhood improvement, open space preservation, adult zones, sports stadia, wetlands, museums, bike trails, floodways...etc.

Think next about how we think about these subjects. We might produce a transportation plan in which we try to balance the various modes of transportation with the existing, or proposed, distribution of other land uses. And we might produce a plan for the future of downtown, or for parks and recreation, or for the waterfront. But for the most part, what occupies our time is in the area of codes and regulations. We are not in the business of guiding our communities into the future; we're in the business of trying to regulate, and control, the constant and often swift demands on the land, so that what is perceived as being "good" will not be destroyed, or lost. The package of rules, regulations, and codes seems to have evolved as a relatively uncontested professional niche for those who call themselves planners.

Today, the only thing that approaches the idea of a view of the whole community, the comprehensive look if you will, is "visioning", a community charette in which people are encouraged to imagine the future in whatever style they are best able to express themselves. One would think that planners would be at the forefront of this process. And it does occasionally happen that a planner, or a planning department, might serve as the convener of a vision experience. But this is not a compelling part of our agenda, and often as not, the leadership and energy of visioning is carried by others in the community, not by planners. I know of no blueprint for the whole city which has emerged from this process. Some participants might be energized by the process and produce some improvements of one sort of another, but "vision" does not translate into a comprehensive plan.

So, do planners plan?

If a project plan, or a plan for a part of the whole, is acceptable as a definition of planning of the APA/AICP kind, then one could say that at least occasionally planners do plan. But if by planning we mean something bigger, something more grand than a project or a twist of the codes, then one should say, no, planners don't plan, we have no image of tomorrow.