To my amazement, most people do not have a clue what urban planners do beyond a generalization of planning for the future and making lists to adjust possible outcomes. How planning applies to the development of a city or the perception of a place remains a mystery to a large segment of the population.
Think about how you came into planning. Did you know you wanted to be a planner when your were 7? How did you find out about planning as a profession? Many planners found out about it in a college course catalog or through exposure in a related field. Planning isn’t advertised or even perceived to be glamorous like practicing law or medicine. It is a practice and it is largely overlooked as a needed profession despite the fact the planners are not only professionals but citizens of a community. Interestingly enough, US News and World Report highlighted Urban Planning as one of top 30 best careers for 2008. They based the criteria on how rewarding the activities of the job are, how difficult it is to become one through training in relation to the science and math skills required, an informal survey of prestige in the eyes of college-educated adults, and market outlook, whether or not the position would be offshored or not. Pay compensation was considered as well from data provided by payscale.com. So it seems planning might be gaining some traction in the media or at least to US News and World Report subscribers.
The perception of urban planning is hard to measure and were I a planner who enjoyed statistics, I might conduct a formal survey from a wider urban and rural population sample.
Tags: marketing, urban planning
Augmented Reality (AR) technology merges virtual content with the physical world. Mobile devices can combine knowledge of where you are, what you are doing, and what information you need to augment the physical world around you with content for planning, education, and productivity.
There needs to be an easy way to capture what is said, transcribe it into words, and mind map it automatically. This might seem a little far fetched, but there are many time-saving benefits. This could be possible through a linked system using Requal > Evernote > Curio applications. Evernote has an API that syncs with Curio, and Requal can sync with Evernote. However, more research will be required to see if Curio could map something on-the-fly. Curio – Mind Mapping, Brainstorming, and Project Management Software
