Starting point: Recognition of common themes and goals among planners, government and several academic disciplines

Organizing strategy: Appeal to commonalities, build consensus

Tools: Conferences, meetings, publications

Outcomes: Synergies

The Planners Network is an association of professionals, activists, academics, and students involved in physical, social, economic, and environmental planning in urban and rural areas, who promote fundamental change in our political and economic systems.

We believe that planning should be a tool for allocating resources and developing the environment to eliminate the great inequalities of wealth and power in our society, rather than to maintain and justify the status quo. We are committed to opposing racial, economic, and environmental injustice and discrimination by gender and sexual orientation. We believe that planning should be used to assure adequate food, clothing, housing, medical care, jobs, safe working conditions, and a healthful environment. We advocate public responsibility for meeting these needs, because the private market has proven incapable of doing so.

We seek to be an effective political and social force, working with other progressive organizations to inform public opinion and public policy and to provide assistance to those seeking to understand, control, and change the forces which affect their lives.

What is a planners network local chapter?

A Planners Network local chapter is an independent group that promotes the Planners Network principles of social, economic, and environmental justice at the local level. Chapters determine their own structure, activities, and decision-making processes.

What can a chapter do?

• Organize local community events, such as forums, speaker panels, film screenings, workshops, or walking tours
• Engage in popular education, for example by writing articles or distributing informational materials
• Organize and endorse advocacy campaigns to bring attention to and influence local or national planning issues in the chapter’s city and country
• Facilitate local and regional networking and communication between people interested in progressive planning
• Contribute to Planners Network activities, such as the annual conference, Progressive Planning magazine, e-newsletter, website, and listservs