Planners Book Club — February 2007

Planners and Politics

Planners and Politics was the February 2007 selection of APA's Planners Book Club.

The eight planners profiled in Roger Waldon's Planners and Politics have mastered the art of working within the political system to get things done. In February, discuss their success stories with colleagues in your office or your community. Find out what you can learn from them about building support for initiatives while maintaining credibility and integrity.

Author Roger Waldon provided the following questions to get your discussion started.

1. A key premise of the book is that, if the process for public decision-making is open, transparent, and participatory, with facts and analysis available, the decisions that are made will be correct and appropriate for the community. What should a planner do if he or she is in strong disagreement with the outcome of such a public decision?

2. What techniques have you found most effective in identifying and supporting political champions for good planning initiatives?

3. Is it the planner's role to find champions for ideas and introduce planning into local political agendas or to react to what politicians think is important?

4. Under what circumstances is it the planner's responsibility to suggest revisiting a prior public decision? Passage of time? Change of circumstances? Emergence of an opportunity? Disagreement with the decision?

5. If a planner finds that community values and priorities do not match his or her personal values and priorities, should the planner try to advocate change or find another community in which to work?

More about Planners and Politics