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Geography and Planning
Three good reasons to enrol in a course in planning
- It will put you on the road to a busy and interesting professional life, with job opportunities in both city and country.
- A qualification in planning can take you in so many directions, career-wise. And it can be coupled with qualifications in other fields.
- The job prospects are good. As society gets richer, the environment becomes more of an issue - so the demand for professional advice tends to increase.
What is planning?
Just look through any newspaper. The chances are there will be at least one story on a "planning" issue -- perhaps a controversy to do with new development ... or some proposal to re-organise traffic flow in the central business district ... or new laws relating to the protection of historic buildings ... or an argument about air pollution levels ... or whatever. As a planner you will be in the thick of such debates.
Making a better world. It sounds ambitious. But that's exactly the business that planners are in -- working toward a more livable, more sustainable world. "Thinking globally, acting locally" is a pretty good motto for the profession.
Sometimes, the job is to advise politicians or local councillors on the implications of possible courses of action. "If you allow that to happen, then this will be the effect …" Or, "Here's a problem emerging. And here are some options for dealing with it." Broadly, planning is about how places work as inter-connected systems, in which everything affects everything else. It's about managing growth and change.
What background do you need?
It doesn't make much difference. People come into planning from all kinds of backgrounds. If you are still at high school, it really doesn't matter what subjects you have been studying. Planning is not an especially technical subject. You don't need to be a mathematician, or a scientist. And you don't need to have done any drawing - planners don't spend their days sitting at a drawing board.The important thing is to have an open and inquiring mind, an interest in your surroundings, and an interest in public affairs.
Where does a qualification in planning lead you, in the end?
Who can say? That first job is just the beginning. As with most professions, career paths branch out unpredictably. Especially when people reach senior management positions, they may find themselves operating outside their original professional field.
"I can honestly say," remarks Angus Witherby of his career in planning, "that I've never had a dull day."
"What I like about planning," says Judith Burns, "is the way you can re-invent yourself. You can turn your hand to so many different things."
Martin Auster adds, "I like the way the job relates to everything you see around you in the street."
Angus, Judith and Martin are on the staff at UNE, but had previous lives as planners outside the university. Angus and Judith still have their own consulting businesses.
See Also
Planning Institute of Australia information about planning careers
Local Government across New South Wales has come together to offer exciting graduate opportunities in a wide range of disciplines.