Urban Planning

Urban Planning, worth the time and effort for the money?

I dunno. I've been doing urban planning for 4 years now. I did a masters and got grad certificates in GIS and urban design. There is a shortage here and still the pay is crap and the hours are long and the stress is high sometimes.I dont mind doing the hard work but feel like it is leading no where. Anyone have the same opinion or can shed some light on the future of the profession as Im thinking of doing something else like project management as the pay is much better.

Public Comments

1. well we could certainly use more urban planners where I live...
2. Dont know where you are but here in Victoria Planners are in short supply and can progress up the chain quite quickly.
3. I recommend reading Richard Florida's "Who's Your City?" or Allan Jacobs' "Making City Planning Work". The quality of urban planning varies tremendously from city to city. The level of pay and stress do too. Many planners in Canada and the U.S. work on specific projects in specific Departments (e.g., Transportation, Drainage, Planning & Development, Parks) for specific quadrants of their city (e.g., North East, Central, South West), making it difficult for any one person to contribute to a really significant change. However, some cities are more progressive than others. These are the cities you read about in articles all the time - such as Portland, Austin, DC, etc. And some planning jobs can affect more change than others. A policy planner can affect more change than someone working on current planning (reviewing land development applications). And a senior planner has more influence than a planning technician. I'm happy to continue this discussion if you want to email me. Check out my website for more thoughts on the planning field.