Ethics in Planning

by Martin Wachs (Editor)

Overview

Some planners limit discussions of ethics to simple, though important, questions about the propriety of their daily activities. This approach to ethics restricts discussion of professional ethics to the propriety of everyday social and professional relationships. It ignores the broader ethical content of planning practice, methods, and policies. While narrow definitions of ethical behavior can easily preoccupy public officials and professional associations, they divert attention from more profound moral issues.Martin Wachs argues that ethical issues are implicit in nearly all planning decisions. For illustrative and educational reasons, it is useful to divide ethics in planning into four distinct categories. The first category includes the moral implications of bureaucratic practices and rules of behavior regarding clients and supervisors. The second category includes ethical judgments which planners make in exercising their "administrative discretion." More complex, and represented by a third category, are the moral implications of methods and the ethical content of criteria built into planning techniques and models. The final type represents the basic choices which society makes - those inherent in the consideration of major policy alternatives.Ethics in Planning contains a variety of representative papers to capture the current state of thinking. This book will be important as a text for survey classes in professional ethics given by university planning programs. It should also supplement short courses in planning ethics for practicing professionals and provide source materials for discussions of planning ethics sponsored by local chapters of the American Planning Association and similar organizations. It gathers together exemplary and critical works, thus it will also interest individual planners in a field that only continues to grow in recognition and importance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780882851037
Publisher:	Transaction Publishers
Publication date:	04/30/1985
Pages:	395
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Martin Wachs is a senior principal researcher at RAND Corporation. He formerly served as director of the Transportation, Space, and Technology Program. Previously, he was professor of civil and environmental engineering and professor of city and regional planning at the University of California, Berkeley. His books include Transportation for the Elderly, Transportation Planning on Trial, and Pricing Urban Transportation.

Table of Contents

Introduction; I: Overview of Ethical Issues in Urban Planning and Administration; 1: Professional Ethics and Beyond: Values in Planning; 2: The Ethics of Contemporary American Planners; 3: Foundations for Normative Planning; 4: The Structure of Ethical Choice In Planning Practice; 5: Realms of Obligation and Virtue; II: Corruption and Whistle-Blowing in Planning Organizations; 6: Corruption and Reform in Land-Use and Building Regulation: Incentives and Disincentives; 7: Corruption as a Feature of Governmental Organization *; 8: Whistle Blowing: Its Nature and Justification; 9: Ethical Dilemmas in Government: Designing an Organizational Response; III: Ethical Issues in Policymaking; 10: The Place of Principles in Policy Analysis; 11: Utilitarianism and the Presuppositions of Cost-Benefit Analysis: An Essay on the Relevance of Moral Philosophy to the Theory of Bureaucracy; 12: Cost-Benefit Analysis and Environmental, Safety, and Health Regulation: Ethical and Philosophical Considerations; 13: Ethical Dilemmas in Forecasting for Public Policy; 14: Normative Criteria for Organizational Discourse: A Methodological Approach; IV: The Emergence of an Environmental Ethic; 15: Land Planning in an Ethical Perspective; 16: Is There an Ecological Ethic?; 17: Are We Ready for an Ecological Morality?

Editorial Reviews

This anthology of essays presents perspectives on ethics in urban and regional planning. The essays are organized into four sections that overview ethical issues in urban planning and administration, corruption and whistle-blowing in planning organizations, ethical issues in policy making, and the emergence of an environmental ethic in planning. Individual essays pursue specific issues like corruption in land-use and building regulation, the presuppositions of cost-benefit analyses and the relevance of moral philosophy in planning, and whether there is an ecological ethic that can be applied to planning. The contributors are planners, policy analysts, political scientists and philosophers.” —Book News “In 1981, the American Institute of Certified Planners adopted a revised “Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct” and in 1983 published a set of materials labeled “Ethical Awareness in Planning.” In that context, Wachs decided that since no single volume on ethics in planning was available, he would assemble “a variety of seminal and representative papers in an effort to capture the current state of thinking.” This anthology is intended (1) to serve as a text for survey classes in professional ethics given by university planning programs; (2) to supplement short courses in planning ethics for practicing professionals; and (3) to provide source materials for discussions of planning ethics sponsored by local chapters of the American Planning Association and similar organizations”… Given his objectives, Wachs has been successful. His selection of material allows the reader a good appreciation of the evolution of concern with ethics by American planners. As a result, both the student, academic and practitioner will gain from this book… Wachs’s book should be of interest to most geographers, and especially those who view themselves as pursuing applied geography.” —Bruce Mitchell, Professional Geographer “Martin Wachs, a professor of urban planning at UCLA, is concerned about the ethics of planning. He believes that some planners want to limit the discussion of ethics to the propriety of routine matters—taking gifts from developers, accepting football tickets, etc.—what he calls the “ethics of everyday behavior”… This is an excellent framework for analyzing ethical problems in planning. Wachs wants it to be used as a basis for courses in university planning programs, short courses for professionals, and discussions held by such professional groups as the American Planning Association… Wachs has made a valuable contribution with this book of readings, and it will surely be used by many planning professors.” —Anthony James Catanese, Growth and Change "Particularly thought provoking." —Planning "An ideal Book." —APA Journal

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