ABSTRACT
This selection is Meyerson’s keynote speech, delivered on May 8, 1956 at the annual meeting of the American Institute of Planners (now the American Planning Association). The text gives the reader a sense of the concerns and debates among professional planners of that period. In the speech, Meyerson suggests ways to expand the focus of the embryonic planning profession by focusing on certain functions traditionally viewed as the responsibility of local governments. He makes the argument that although the opportunity cost maybe spending less time on long-range planning, planners could bring greater efficiency to such functions—and that could translate into “daily changes of urban development.”
