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The job of planning director for a large American city can represent, I think, one of the most challenging and rewarding career opportunities that a professional planner might wish to pursue. The planning director’s job can be quite challenging because it demands a wide range of technical, administrative, and political skills, many of which are generally not taught in our planning schools. The job can also be very rewarding: not necessarily in personal financial terms, but certainly in the gratification that comes from making a difference in the life of a community. Therefore, to the extent that my thoughts might be of some value to prospective planning directors, I’m glad to say a few words about my career path to date, about some of the discoveries that I’ve made along that path, and about some of the critical skills that I believe to be important for a planning director to possess.
Career Path
There are probably as many career paths for planning directors as there are planning directors. Nonetheless, some milestones tend to be fairly common and I think that my own career path has included most of them.
I began by earning a bachelor’s degree in a related field and then pursuing graduate studies in an accredited planning program, thereby seeking to become something of a generalist with a specialty. After earning a master’s degree and serving in the military, I accepted a job offer from a mid-sized regional planning commission. I served with the commission for a total of eleven years: three years as an entry-level planner, five years as a senior planner, and three years as planning director. It was a good place for a prospective local planning director because it enabled me to gain valuable experience with several different communities and in virtually all aspects of local planning.
After eleven years with the regional planning commission, I had the opportunity to take a job as planning director for a large, strong-mayor city. That job placed me in a different political environment, but I enjoyed serving there for eleven years under three different mayors. I have now been serving for three years as planning director for another large city with a council-manager form of government.
I try to stay abreast of statewide and national trends by remaining active in APA at the section, chapter, and national levels, and by participating in other professional activities. I particularly enjoy visiting planning schools through the planning accreditation program, and visiting other cities through the Urban Land Institute’s advisory services program. I also try to be active in my own community through a variety of civic activities.
Discoveries
What have I learned from my experience as a planning director? Among other things, I’ve discovered that the job of planning director is largely what you make of it! To an extent that varies from one community to the next, certain job responsibilities are prescribed by law. For example, many planning departments are legally responsible for maintaining a basic comprehensive plan, administering zoning and subdivision regulations, or staffing a "metropolitan planning organization" for transportation planning, to cite just a few typical functions. These obligations will inevitably consume a substantial portion of the planning director’s time. To an even greater extent, though, the planning director -- more than most other local government department heads -- enjoys broad discretion as to the nature and scope of the job.
The planning director’s job offers many opportunities to do important things, but one must make a conscious effort to seek and find and seize those opportunities. Don’t expect anyone to hand those opportunities to you on a silver platter. Don’t expect the mayor, the city manager, and other decision-makers to share your understanding of the planning function in local government. Don’t expect them to come to you for advice on important planning issues merely because you’re the planning director or even because you’ve established your credibility on those issues.
Instead, you must go out of your way and get close to your decision-makers: to your principal customers. You must get close enough so that you might give them timely and pro-active advice about the community’s planning issues, so that they might learn to recognize growth and development issues essentially as planning issues, and so that they might instinctively turn to you for help on those matters. Getting close to your decision-makers might involve rearranging some formal organizational structures, but more often it involves developing informal but effective interpersonal networks within your local government and throughout the community. Over time, these informal networks will enable you as planning director to get the right things done for your community, but you must provide leadership to determine what those right things should be.
Critical Skills
Beyond the importance of nurturing interpersonal networks, what are some of the planning director’s most important skills? Most of us would agree, I think, that a planning director should possess good leadership and management skills, as well as the basic technical skills that are associated with our profession. With some modification, though, we could say almost the same thing about a police chief, a public works director, or any other local government department head. We might ask, therefore, what kinds of skills are particularly if not uniquely relevant to an effective planning director? We might identify a variety of essential attributes, but I think that most of them revolve around creating, imparting, and executing ideas.
To bring about positive change in the community, a planning director must first create sound ideas that will often challenge the community’s traditional ways of doing things. The planning director might question, for example, the way that the local government customarily establishes budget priorities, or promotes certain land use patterns, or seeks to relieve traffic congestion. The planning director must generate ideas that are conceptually valid, that are appropriate for the community, and that are practical to implement. Creativity, and the skill to apply it, are therefore important attributes for a planning director to possess.
Of course, not even the best planning ideas will make much of a difference unless the planning director can impart those ideas to those who can use their power or influence to convert those ideas into action. In that respect, I don’t think that I can over-emphasize the importance of good communication skills to an effective planning director. A planning director must be a good writer, which may involve learning to write more plainly and more concisely than one might have learned to do as a graduate student. A planning director should also be good at public speaking, not only informing audiences but also motivating them to do the right things. The ability to communicate graphically through simple diagrams and sketches can also be a valuable skill. Regardless of the communication medium, the planning director should strive to understand his or her audience and convey the message accordingly.
Finally, the planning director must be able to execute ideas through his or her management of the planning department. I would emphasize the ability to make good decisions, particularly in hiring competent employees and consultants, and in setting consistent priorities by which to allocate the department’s limited resources. I would also stress the ability to function effectively within a political environment. The planning director should never play politics, per se, but should always understand how political forces might affect the execution of his or her ideas.
In summary, I think that a planning director should focus on creating, imparting, and executing ideas while working closely with those who make important decisions about the community’s growth and development. In a sense, then, the planning director must be both a non-conformist and a consummate team player. That’s a tricky combination, but I think that those who master it can look forward to a successful and gratifying experience.
Author and Copyright Information
Copyright 2001 by Author
Fernando Costa serves as planning director for the City of Fort Worth. Before moving to Texas in 1998, he served for eleven years as planning director for the City of Atlanta and for eleven years as a planner, senior planner, and planning director for the Middle Georgia Area Planning and Development Commission. Mr. Costa was graduated from Georgia Tech with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering and a master’s degree in city planning. He is chair-elect of APA’s City Planning and Management Division and a past member of the Planning Accreditation Board.
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