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In writing this planning blog over the last seven years I have often discussed the problems associated with our auto-dominated urban/suburban landscape. But it鈥檚 a challenge to communicate the full rationale behind addressing complex public issues in 300 words. In a series of posts over the next few months I will attempt to provide a broader perspective about the 鈥渨hy鈥� and the 鈥渉ow鈥� of planning. This series will summarize some of the factors that underlie how the profession thinks about planning-related issues in ways that (hopefully) will make the decisions that address them more understandable.

First, it鈥檚 important to get one thing out of the way: planners are not anti-car. We drive and depend on our automobiles like everyone else. But we are pro-mobility, which means advocating for the most efficient, equitable, safe and environmentally sound ways to move large numbers of people. And that means considering all aspects of urban/suburban life that factor into our mobility, not just transportation.

That leads to my first point, which is that addressing planning issues involves making sense out of the interrelatedness of the various aspects of the urban environment and the resulting complexity in making recommendations to decision-makers. (And planners are not the decision-makers.) It鈥檚 not as simple as saying, for instance, that the solution to traffic congestion is building more roadway capacity, or providing more transit. In this case the solution involves: looking at existing and proposed land uses and their densities; receiving public input from all affected parties; evaluating potential environmental impacts, safety, engineering feasibility and costs of facilities, and other concerns; creating alternative scenarios or options; and going through more rounds of community and leadership input before arriving at the decision phase.

Next time I鈥檒l discuss some of the key issues our communities face.