Example Career: Urban and Regional Planners

Career Description

Develop comprehensive plans and programs for use of land and physical facilities of jurisdictions, such as towns, cities, counties, and metropolitan areas.

What Job Titles Urban and Regional Planners Might Have

• Community Development Planner
• Planner
• Planning Consultant
• Planning Technician

What Urban and Regional Planners Do

• Design, promote, or administer government plans or policies affecting land use, zoning, public utilities, community facilities, housing, or transportation.
• Advise planning officials on project feasibility, cost-effectiveness, regulatory conformance, or possible alternatives.
• Create, prepare, or requisition graphic or narrative reports on land use data, including land area maps overlaid with geographic variables, such as population density.
• Hold public meetings with government officials, social scientists, lawyers, developers, the public, or special interest groups to formulate, develop, or address issues regarding land use or community plans.
• Mediate community disputes or assist in developing alternative plans or recommendations for programs or projects.
• Recommend approval, denial, or conditional approval of proposals.
• Conduct field investigations, surveys, impact studies, or other research to compile and analyze data on economic, social, regulatory, or physical factors affecting land use.
• Evaluate proposals for infrastructure projects or other development for environmental impact or sustainability.
• Discuss with planning officials the purpose of land use projects, such as transportation, conservation, residential, commercial, industrial, or community use.
• Keep informed about economic or legal issues involved in zoning codes, building codes, or environmental regulations.
• Assess the feasibility of land use proposals and identify necessary changes.
• Determine the effects of regulatory limitations on land use projects.
• Review and evaluate environmental impact reports pertaining to private or public planning projects or programs.
• Supervise or coordinate the work of urban planning technicians or technologists.
• Develop plans for public or alternative transportation systems for urban or regional locations to reduce carbon output associated with transportation.
• Identify opportunities or develop plans for sustainability projects or programs to improve energy efficiency, minimize pollution or waste, or restore natural systems.
• Coordinate work with economic consultants or architects during the formulation of plans or the design of large pieces of infrastructure.
• Advocate sustainability to community groups, government agencies, the general public, or special interest groups.
• Investigate property availability for purposes of development.
• Conduct interviews, surveys and site inspections concerning factors that affect land usage, such as zoning, traffic flow and housing.
• Prepare reports, using statistics, charts, and graphs, to illustrate planning studies in areas such as population, land use, or zoning.
• Prepare, develop and maintain maps and databases.
• Prepare, maintain and update files and records, including land use data and statistics.
• Research, compile, analyze and organize information from maps, reports, investigations, and books for use in reports and special projects.
• Respond to public inquiries and complaints.

What Urban and Regional Planners Should Be Good At

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

What Urban and Regional Planners Should Be Interested In

• Investigative - Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
• Enterprising - Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

What Urban and Regional Planners Need to Learn

• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Geography - Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
• Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
• Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.