ABSTRACT
Paraphrasing Heraclitus, everything is in a process of constant change. Opportunities and responsibilities for planners are changing, as well. The twenty-first century rapidly brings technological advances in the acquisition, processing, communication, and coordination of information. Changes also seem to involve scarce ‘natural-quality’ resources, including space itself. Peoples’ lifestyles are also changing, both driving and receiving the changes in the world. Amidst such change, it is important to have strong references – for instance, to always know where we stand (point A of the planning problem) and where we are going (point B), so we can think of how we can do that through planning, and thus bring about yet another change: the transition from A to B.
