Practitioners and the art of planning---Eugenie L.Birch for week 2

This article probes the meaning of the phrase"art of planning"as envisioned by its practitioners-those who work in the field and those who teach and research in academia.
1930s to 1960s:Science and art of planning
The field had been evolving from 1917,when twenty-four men founded the American Institute of City Planning.That year the American Institute of City Planning members deleted the word "city"from the organization`s title,making it American Institute of  Planners.The massive New Deal efforts designed to address widespread Depression-caused unemployment  through infrastructure construction had opened up many new avenues for planners.
  While under these conditions,the design and craft facets of the field expanded dramatically,the presentation approaches basically remained unchanged from the earliest days of expert-driven diagnosis and prescription accompanied by the graphic and  textual material of planning reports.
  To codify their expertise,planners produced textbooks and monographs capturing the art of planning from their own experience.While planners did not explicitly write about the presentation techniques needed to succeed in their field,they did assemble lists of exemplary planning products.
  On the whole,these volumes expanded the design and craft aspects of the field but reiterated the presentation formats of the past.
The art of planning,sixties-style
Just as New deal activities had prompted the examination of the profession in 1938,the implementation of postwar programs would cause heavy soul searching in the 1960s. More over,with their focus on city and suburb and their claimed expertise in urban structure and land use,planner were often at the heart of the debates on domestic issues.In this period,education in planning was also changing.
The art and science of planning in the seventies
 Interest in the field of urbanism ran high through out the 1970s,especially after president Lyndon Johnson signed legislation creating the cabinet level departed of   Housing and urban development in 1965.By the end of the 1980s,about eighty schools had degree offerings.
The art of planning in the eighties and nineties
The degree programs,now numbering about 100,continued to focus on master`s and doctoral education.
Publication of  two editions of the Green Book bracketed the next decades.
The art of planning in the millennium
As  this account has related,the art of planning,as seen in the successive editions of the Green Book,is composed of three elements:design,craft and presentation.Over time,planner have amplified or modified the definition of the three facets of the art of planning,adding new areas of expertise and redefining  their role in exercising this knowledge.
These are a few ideas, designed to stimulate discussion and action.