Members' 25-Year Reminiscences

Frank W. Osgood, AICP

Seal Beach, California

I enjoyed attending the recent APA National Conference in Washington, D.C., and being mentioned as a charter member. I believe I joined around 1953 or 1954. I graduated from Michigan State as an undergraduate planning student in 1954, and from Georgia Tech with a Master's in Planning in 1960. I taught planning for over five years at Iowa State University in the early to mid-1970s.

I found my planning career wrapped up in regional planning, helping turn out Tulsa's Metropolitan Region plan in the early 1960s. Again and again throughout my career, I became involved in regional planning through both public sector and private consulting. Whether it was under the guise of AIP, ASPO, or APA, the importance of regional planning kept coming to the fore.

Finally, at the age of 72, I completed and had published my book, Region Aroused, covering two years in the planning process for the six-county Los Angeles region, serving more than 16 million people. Controversial in nature, but geared to making planning more interesting and needed by the average regional citizen, I hope it helps make planning more relevant. As a colleague recently stated, regional planning doesn't seem to be discussed as much at conferences anymore even though its need is even greater in our rapidly growing local and metropolitan areas.

May planning continue to become more relevant as the years go by.