ABSTRACT
As history shows, the fates and futures of designers and planners are linked to communities in positive and negative ways. This history harbors truths about design and planning’s role in both creating and destroying communities. Stories of questionable and failed planning and design are legend, including urban renewal, modernist planning, environmental degradation, and sprawl (Kunstler, 1993; Montgomery, 1985). While not always achieving the same amount of notice, stories of environmentally and socially responsible urban and neighborhood development as well as parks and open spaces deserve the significant praise they garner (Beatley, 2011; Newman and Kenworthy, 1999). At both ends of the continuum is evidence of the enduring consequences produced by the way designers and planners think and behave. Because their work involves shaping and safeguarding environments where people live, work, and play, designers and planners perform a major role in determining the quality of people’s lives and their communities.
