Dare to plan: an essay on the role of the future in planning practice and education

The planning profession today proclaims its problem-solving orientation and its pragmatism. In the meantime, planning is sacrificing its roles as visionary and idealist and abandoning its responsibility to be a source of inspiration and to produce ideas about what might be and what ought to be. Population forecasts and their use in planning practice are analysed to illustrate that the relationship between planning and the future is askew. Courses of study are recommended that are designed to help planning schools rediscover the future and in the process restore our confidence in planning and our pride in its accomplishments.