Ten Personal management in planning
-
Janice Morphet
Abstract
Planning is funded by civil society to regulate land use and support public investment within sustainable objectives. Planning provides an institutional framework and operational certainty for private sector investment. Planners are engaged in delivering the planning system. They occupy a number of roles that are primarily advisory rather than executive in nature. Planners certified by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) are bound by a code of professional conduct, which applies to members’ professional activities and requires them to act with integrity and competence. Planners’ professional status is defined by a Royal Charter in the UK (RTPI, 2012). Planners who do not adhere to the code may face disciplinary action. At worst, a planner may lose their membership and with it the designation ‘chartered’ town planner. Behaviour outside this code may be challenged and, in the worst case, professional planners may be removed from the membership of the professional body and, in the UK, lose the right to use the descriptor of a ‘chartered’ town planner.
Planners may have obligations to their employer, but does membership of a professional body confer an autonomous duty to society and to the practices of sustainability? RTPI members are required to undergo continuous professional development (CPD) to keep their skills up to date with changes in planning practice.
Planners operate within a political environment and for those directly employed in the public sector; this may give rise to pressures and tensions (Stocker and Thompson-Fawcett, 2014). Some commentators, like Kitchen (2007), have written extensively about this, while Kaiserman and colleagues (Ankers et al, 2010) created an imaginary and farcical local authority through which to explore the pressures of the public sector planner’s role.
Abstract
Planning is funded by civil society to regulate land use and support public investment within sustainable objectives. Planning provides an institutional framework and operational certainty for private sector investment. Planners are engaged in delivering the planning system. They occupy a number of roles that are primarily advisory rather than executive in nature. Planners certified by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) are bound by a code of professional conduct, which applies to members’ professional activities and requires them to act with integrity and competence. Planners’ professional status is defined by a Royal Charter in the UK (RTPI, 2012). Planners who do not adhere to the code may face disciplinary action. At worst, a planner may lose their membership and with it the designation ‘chartered’ town planner. Behaviour outside this code may be challenged and, in the worst case, professional planners may be removed from the membership of the professional body and, in the UK, lose the right to use the descriptor of a ‘chartered’ town planner.
Planners may have obligations to their employer, but does membership of a professional body confer an autonomous duty to society and to the practices of sustainability? RTPI members are required to undergo continuous professional development (CPD) to keep their skills up to date with changes in planning practice.
Planners operate within a political environment and for those directly employed in the public sector; this may give rise to pressures and tensions (Stocker and Thompson-Fawcett, 2014). Some commentators, like Kitchen (2007), have written extensively about this, while Kaiserman and colleagues (Ankers et al, 2010) created an imaginary and farcical local authority through which to explore the pressures of the public sector planner’s role.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of tables, figures and boxes vi
- Abbreviations viii
- About the author ix
- Preface xi
- Introduction 1
- Sectors and scales 21
- Theories, tools and techniques 37
- Strategy and planning 59
- Managing resources in planning: people and communications 79
- Managing resources for planning: finance and assets 101
- Managing planning processes 121
- Managing planning: projects, plans and programmes 143
- Sustainable management and risk 161
- Personal management in planning 177
- References 191
- Index 225
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of tables, figures and boxes vi
- Abbreviations viii
- About the author ix
- Preface xi
- Introduction 1
- Sectors and scales 21
- Theories, tools and techniques 37
- Strategy and planning 59
- Managing resources in planning: people and communications 79
- Managing resources for planning: finance and assets 101
- Managing planning processes 121
- Managing planning: projects, plans and programmes 143
- Sustainable management and risk 161
- Personal management in planning 177
- References 191
- Index 225
