ABSTRACT
This conference as a whole may turn out to have a somewhat oldfashioned flavor, since it involves many of the Old Guard of planning and planning theory. A central question of the conference will revolve around the issue of whether the younger guard-sometimes our students or our students' students-has generated a set of new ideas or new approaches which are more effective in meeting the needs of society than some of the ideas of twenty years ago. At the same time, some of us will be examining our own consciences and we will address the question of whether the changes which have come about in our thinking and the new ideas which we have adopted have themselves made any substantial difference in the practice of planning.
