What is involved in city planning? What skills do I need to become one?

Question

I have always been interested in the way a city functions as a whole - the zones, the roads, civic facilities, etc. But what is involved in the profession? Any general or specific answers will be welcomed.

Answer 1

When I came up (and have been a planner since the late 1970's) it was considered an interdisciplinary field, combining architecture, history, sociology, cartography, finance and engineering, in varying degrees depending on the environment (specifically local govt vs regional vs private consultants vs developers; all employ planners).  Many schools required coursework in each, and there seemed to be a free-flowing evolution of the field as technology crept in enabled us to track trends in development and demographics much more quickly than in the past.  In the old days, you could spend many years watching a development plan progress from a concept to a tangible entity.  Now, despite the armies that are marshalled to oppose any proposal, cities are developed and redeveloped at an amazing pace.  

I find today that in government you've got to deal with too much finance (obtaining and allocating grant money) and too little architecture and engineering (the technical specialists are hired as needed), at least for my taste.  With a strong background in statistics (I took a decade off to work as a statistician before returning to planning 6 years ago) I've specialized in the data analysis needed to coordinate the other functions, and it's definitely a key component of the occupation.  However, today, Geographic Information Systems have become THE fundamental tool of any planning shop, so learn what you can about GIS.  Intelligent maps can contain information that used to require stacks of reports, and communicate it much more quickly to an audience that can digest it much more easily.  Google Earth, Zillow and Mapquest may be fun, but ESRI is the leader in the field of GIS.  Can't hurt to learn as much about GIS as you can going in.          

Answer 2

You should go to college and major in urban planning.  

You can google "urban planning" for general information.  A lot of it is land use planning and layout.