ABSTRACT
The long-neglected task of defining the discipline of planning, describing the multiplicity of influences impinging upon it and unravelling the complementary discourses constituting it probably means probing the core of planning practice and revisiting planning education itself. This chapter describes the mismatch between the objectives of planning education and the requirements of planning practice. The claim that planning practice and education are growing apart has been heard since planning became a separate profession. The ensuing debate has been fuelled by the concern that planning graduates are not prepared for the tasks and challenges they will face in their professional lives and that the mismatch is most obvious in their first few years after graduation. Young planners are often treated as passive technicians and saddled with tedious, repetitive, and administrative tasks, while they expected to 'be in a position to change the world'.
