Planning is focused on creating healthy, beautiful, thriving, communities. Professional planners seek to maximize the health, safety, and economic well-being of all people living in our communities. They consider transportation, business and economic development, housing availability and affordability, and quality of life resources like recreation.  

A planner’s job is to work with residents and elected officials in considering how all the pieces of a community — buildings, roads, and parks — fit together and develop over time. They face a difficult task of imagining how things like demographics, transportation demand, employment, and housing will change over time, and how a community should develop to ensure a prosperous future.