Quintessential of Planning: how to find it?

Is Planning a form of Art; if yes, then what is the art in planning and art of planning.....

The field of Planning and Architecture in its quintessential form embodies the characteristics of “Zeitgeist” and “Genius Loci”; the spirit of time and place respectively. From the advent of industrialization, rapid transition to digital technology and consequently to space age, the art of planning is evidently in need to constantly evolve, learn, grow and adapt to changes; even though the tangible impacts of planning are manifested for long term. The deliberate use of word “art of planning” is not to undermine the importance of technical, scientific and procedural duties of planning practice; however it is to emphasize the multiple dimensions of this practice. The “art of planning” is the creative genius of a planner pulling the different variables of technical (surveying, assessments), scientific, procedural and social aspects to develop a vision, ideate and solve for short and long term goals. The “art in planning” is understanding the scope of different dimensions and developing the acumen for such complex practice. I was deeply inspired by the idea coined by Michael Batty as quoted in Peter Hall book “there was some theory in planning but there was no theory of planning”. I believe that planning is intertwining of both; art and science practices.

The twentieth century phenomenon of motor age, baby boom and economic boom post Second World War, brought unprecedented changes to the urban built form; for the mobility through car to suburban single family homes became symbols of prosperity and happy life for the bourgeoisie. The accessibility and independence that ownership of car brought to an individual enabled a nova culture of freedom and gave transition from interdependent communal to individual living in western societies. This surge created a new manifesto for planners, architects and engineers; for the built environment from sidewalks, roads, freeways, highway, building materials, design and infrastructure were designed to create convenience for automobile based living. Decentralization, prefabrication of standardized building parts and services, suburban shopping malls, symbols in space, roadside architecture and expressways are some of the expressions of that time (zeitgeist) and place (genius loci). The irony of these times was that planners were so caught up in designing automobile centered built environments that the impact of this intervention on environment, health and natural resources were beyond comprehension and forecast. The mention is found in theory of planning but the action is void.

In action now, the twenty first century has brought healthy communities movement, climate change movement, infill developments, and restriction on urban sprawl, smart growth and green buildings as some of the interventions actively pursued at all fronts. Planners are also grasping the scope of political, economic, social, cultural and environmental aspects of the work. Another interesting dimension is micro managing and planning aspects of local municipals, towns, rural areas or First Nations Land. The importance of location, its people, culture and resources as positive sources for localized planning is a must need.

Even though for past 50 years or more, we may have set broader dimensions of legal and administrative planning structures, now, is the need to create micro – local scale plans of areas, keeping in perspective the global aspect of changing times.