TY - JOUR
T1 - Competencies Revisited
T2 - An Educational Approach to Conceptualising Planning as a Boundary Discipline
AU - Gilliard, Lukas
AU - Thierstein, Alain
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Taylor & Francis.
PY - 2016/1/2
Y1 - 2016/1/2
N2 - This paper presents a systemic view on the purpose and impact of planning education. We introduce a system model, which is based on the assumption that the objective of planning education is to equip students with competencies to resolve current and future challenges. Planning education has always been focussed on instruments for this purpose. Among other reasons, established statutory instruments have become less effective in steering urban development due to a shift of power from public towards private stakeholders, e.g. in terms of funding. Thus, we propose a shift from formal qualifications suited for public planning control towards a problem-based and impact-orientated approach. The educational term "competence" serves hereby as a measure of employability.The "wicked" nature of planning problems (Rittel, Webber 1973: 160) characterises knowledge in planning. Knowledge is contextual and constantly transforming. It can, however, be deconstructed in a defined context. Then, we can assign an observable impact to a certain state of a problem or intervention. These constructs of knowledge can help us to make informed decisions. The challenge is to apply and transform these contextual constructs to other settings. This requires proficiency in analysing, evaluating and creating constructs. Public planning control and its instruments consist of normative goals, which dictate the reason and extent of planning. In the case of a problem-based approach, it is the role of a planner to recognise situations in which his knowledge helps to make an impact on intended futures.
AB - This paper presents a systemic view on the purpose and impact of planning education. We introduce a system model, which is based on the assumption that the objective of planning education is to equip students with competencies to resolve current and future challenges. Planning education has always been focussed on instruments for this purpose. Among other reasons, established statutory instruments have become less effective in steering urban development due to a shift of power from public towards private stakeholders, e.g. in terms of funding. Thus, we propose a shift from formal qualifications suited for public planning control towards a problem-based and impact-orientated approach. The educational term "competence" serves hereby as a measure of employability.The "wicked" nature of planning problems (Rittel, Webber 1973: 160) characterises knowledge in planning. Knowledge is contextual and constantly transforming. It can, however, be deconstructed in a defined context. Then, we can assign an observable impact to a certain state of a problem or intervention. These constructs of knowledge can help us to make informed decisions. The challenge is to apply and transform these contextual constructs to other settings. This requires proficiency in analysing, evaluating and creating constructs. Public planning control and its instruments consist of normative goals, which dictate the reason and extent of planning. In the case of a problem-based approach, it is the role of a planner to recognise situations in which his knowledge helps to make an impact on intended futures.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84963624899&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/02513625.2016.1171048
DO - 10.1080/02513625.2016.1171048
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84963624899
SN - 0251-3625
VL - 52
SP - 42
EP - 55
JO - DISP
JF - DISP
IS - 1
ER -