Thirty Years of Planning Education

Abstract

In the thirty years since the Program in Planning Education and Research began at the University of Chicago, planning education has seen various planning styles and substantive spe cializations. Present confusion about planning education, however, should not draw educators' attention to lim itations and misapplications of the Chicago program's rational planning model. Rather, the article argues that educators should focus on planning education's reform of planning as (applied) social science. The article then argues that historical develop ments in planning education carried out under this reform banner reflect a misreading of the original attempt to align planning with the social sci ences. The article concludes that planning education should be refo cused on social design.