ABSTRACT
An important question to ask in the context of the goals of equity planning is how the interests of poor and minority residents can be framed in a more politically powerful way In cities, the emerging stakeholders—investors, nonfamily households, and region-serving interests—are gaining, while attention to the poor is not. Cities play a critical role in shaping the physical environment and the application of technology to that environment. The real-world urban neighborhood that comes closest is probably the ethnic working-class neighborhood. Planners played some role in several processes as they have unfolded in certain decades. There are ways the planning profession helped advance opportunity, as well as other ways in which we contribute to inequality and isolation. The area of challenge has to do with professional competence and effectiveness—how individuals, given their own personal demographic class and other features, operate in the field.
