What is Planning Practice

Scholarly thought is that planning should be an opportunity for the interface of systems and methodologies that lead to consensus building in addressing the needs of communities. This is because planning is ‘a process which involves decisions on alternative ways of using available resources, to achieve particular goals at some time in the future.' Development is 'the carrying out of building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under land.' These definitions miss the planner, who is supposed to champion the development planning processes. In Zimbabwe and other developing countries, the discussion on the efficacy of planning has shifted from the technical to the professional. With the advances made in technology, the increasing civic awareness among both rural and urban communities, planning standards are going down. In urban areas, there is increasing urban sprawl, traffic congestion, environmental degradation, and general disorder. All these issues have led to the need to (re)look at the issue of professional planning practice.