ABSTRACT
This is a study of the politics of solving city problems and of the role of the urban planner in this process. The central question that w i l l be examined concerns the fac tors that determine the political effectiveness of the urban planner as a participant in community decision-making.1
The urban planner is studied as one type among the new breed of urban experts who are rising to prominence as cities become increasingly involved in attempts to solve their development problems. By comparing the experi ences of a variety of such experts, i t is hoped that we w i l l eventually arrive at some general propositions about these specialists' impact on urban policy. An understanding of their influence is today extremely important, for i t may well be the key to accurate predictions about the future shape of our cities.
