planning...
In earlier discussion, I have noted that planning can be considered as a generic activity, a process, a profession, and/or a discipline (Dempster 1998a)ref. As a generic activity, its primary concern is visualizing future possibilities, evaluating (implicitly or explicitly) different alternatives that might achieve and/or target toward these possibilities, and choosing the preferred alternative to lead to the desirable future state. Although obviously related to the activity, the process can be distinguished as something a little more specific, namely the methods, mechanisms and tools for accomplishing the activity, especially in a group or social context. The planning profession, involves a group of individuals, with a particular set of skills and expertise, that fill a social responsibility to guide the planning processes - however it is defined within their political context. As a discipline, planning has rather ill-defined boundaries but, generally speaking, it refers to the body of knowledge and the institutionalized educational processes that are related to the activity - although more specifically, to the process and profession (Dempster 1998a).
As might be expected from these broad and general applications, there are a diversity of definitions.
this page created: 2005.12.20
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