Some thoughts on new styles of planning

Planning stands at a crossroads. Much of the idealism and momentum for the pursuit of the public good has been lost in the painful evaluation of its failure to produce a better environment and to advance the good society. In this note it is argued that much can still be done to make planning more effective though the development of better methods in terms of structuring goals, outlining resources and constraints which bound possible plans, finding possible actions which generate good plans, predicting their outcomes, and finding good plans within all these limits including those of time and political tolerance.