ABSTRACT
Challenged to write the story of my professional life in the fi eld of spatial planning, I tried to fi nd an answer to how my interest in planning developed and how it became the main topic of my professional life. It was certainly infl uenced and guided by a lot of personal and academic experiences. I grew up with an early wish to build up my country and do something for society, along with an early fascination with maps and plans and an interest in strategies. This interest led me to the study of architecture with an emphasis on urban planning, and to work as an assistant professor at the Institute of Urban Design and Spatial Planning at the Vienna University of Technology, where I was fi rst more of an observer, but increasingly had a growing infl uence on the programme of study for spatial planning which started in 1970, a new sort of a school of planning. My interest was also heavily infl uenced by my work with students, exploring with them the importance of creativity in planning.
