The APA Planner's International Exchange Program: Its Impacts on the Professional Development and Global Awareness of Planners	.
David Laverny-Rafter, AICP	Author Info

Abstract

Background

The Planner's International Exchange Program was developed by Professor David Laverny-Rafter based on his experience as a Fulbright exchange scholar in Ireland. He believed that, like academics, professional planners should have a program that facilitates interaction with practicing planners in other countries. After some investigation, he discovered that the old "job swap" form of exchange (whereby a professional changes places with a colleague in another country and works in their job for one year) was considered to be impractical because of the length of time involved and the reluctance of employers to take on an unknown person from another country. In its place, the "host exchange" approach had been found to more workable and had been implemented successfully by the International City Managers Association for several years. Under this approach, professionals work along side their practitioner- partner for two weeks, observe practice in a different culture, discuss issues and exchange perspectives and knowledge. To Laverny-Rafter, this seemed to be the best model for

planners and so in 1993, he contacted Is Stollman, the APA Executive Director, the APA International Division, and the officials at the Irish Planning Institute and the Royal Town Planning Institute and obtained their approval to go ahead. The United Kingdom and Ireland were selected as the first two countries for the exchange program because Laverny-Rafter had contacts in these two countries and because of the popularity of these locations to American planners given the lack of language obstacles.

Therefore, the structure of the program is fairly simple: it matches applicants from the U.S., U.K., and Ireland and offers participants a two-week "host exchange" experience. Once the American planner is matched with an Irish or British exchange partner, they have one year to arrange their respective visits. During their visits, both are expected to host their partner, provide a professional development experience which includes meeting with planning organizations, discussing planning techniques and principles, attending planning decision-making meetings, visiting projects and sites, etc. One condition of participation is that both planners must provide accommodations for

their exchange partner during their visit in order to minimize costs since all expenses are the responsibility of the participants. At the end of their exchange, the participants are asked to write a report describing and analyzing their experience and upon receipt of this report, they receive professional development credits from AICP, RTPI, or IPI and a certificate of participation from the APA International Division.

Now that the program has been in operation for over four years, and over 60 American planners have been matched with over 60 British or Irish planners, there is a track record which can be evaluated and the relative merits of the program can be discussed. The "track record" that will be examined in this paper is based on the experiences of the program coordinator and the experiences of the participants as described in their final reports.

Observations of the Program Coordinator

Upon launching the program, the coordinator had no idea how much response there would be among planners in the various countries but assumed that it would be small given the requirements that participants obtain the cooperation of their employer and that they pay for all costs incurred. Also, it was assumed that planning directors and senior planners would be more likely to be involved because they would be more interested in sharing their experiences and could afford the costs. With respect to the first assumption, the coordinator was very surprised by the sheer volume of inquiries he has received over the years. In spite of very little publicity (mainly in the form of small announcements in APA's Planning magazine and in RTPI and IPI magazines), the coordinator has received hundreds of requests for the program Fact Sheets and application forms. There appears to be many planners who are not involved in the APA International Division but who maintain strong interests in broadening their professional experiences and being exposed to diverse cultural perspectives on planning. The second assumption has been confirmed in that the overwhelming majority of applicants are in the senior planner ranks or above and this has worked well in making matches because most of the British and Irish applicants were in these types of positions.

The positive outcomes of the program, from the coordinators perspective, have been the enthusiastic response of the American planners and the the professional development benefits that this program offered. The positive feedback has been in the form of the large number of inquiries and applications and the comments received - both formal (in the written reports) and informal (through letters and phone calls). Once the matches are made by the coordinator, the planners are responsible for making the program work by arranging for their exchange partner's visit and the related professional development activities. In most cases, this has been done with little need for coordinator intervention.

The difficulties that have confronted the coordinator have involved the time required to administer the program and various implementation issues that have arisen from time to time.

• Time Demands: Since the coordinator is not paid for this service, the time needed to respond to the hundreds of inquiries, process applications, etc. had to be borrowed from other tasks but luckily his employer is a university which accepts these types of duties as part of community service.
• Limited Irish Involvement: Also challenging in implementing this program has been the low level of response from Irish planners. While the British planners have responded to this program with great interest and support, the Irish planners have provided only 10% of the overseas applicants. Based on discussions with the IPI, it appears that Irish employers are much less willing to grant the paid 2-weeks of professional development leave that is needed in order for the planners to participate. Hopefully, in the future, this will change because many of the American planners who apply express a strong desire for an Irish match.
• Lack of Large City U.S. Applicants: Another strange outcome has been the lack of American applicants from large urban areas. Most U.S. applicants are planners in small to medium sized cities or regional planning agencies while many of the British applicants come from larger cities in the U.K. In spite of this difference, matches have worked out well but the coordinator is not sure why large city planners have not been more involved in the program.
• Funny Issues: Finally, some funny issues have arisen such as the male planner who insisted on being matched with a female planner (apparently thinking this was a dating service) and the applicant who refused to sign the APA legal release form "on religious grounds" but surprisingly, the program has had few of the operational problems that we thought might arise such as personal conflicts among the matches.

Observations of the Participants

The best source of information on the advantages and disadvantages of the program come from the participant's written reports where they describe their activities, analyze the meaning of the exchange to their personal and professional lives, and make recommendations for changes. Below, the major types of comments will be presented in the words of the American participants.

On Planning in Other Countries:

• With the recent political party change in central government, it was an interesting time to be in England. . . As land resources are a major constraint, it appears that the UK's embrace of the European Community sustainable development environmental directives is quite timely.
• The Dublin (Ireland) Corporation is a government agency responsible for all aspects of Dublin life from water and sewer to archeological digs. The amount of clout a planner in the Dublin Corporation has is much more than what is permissible in the U.S. The Dublin Corp., with the consent of the politicians, has complete say on development. Public hearings are not part of the process. One can file an objection to a plan but that is heard by a national board rather than in public debate.
• I believe that planning as a profession is more respected in Great Britain than in this country. I do wish we could regulate the profession in a similar way.
• The major national British bureaucracies give guidance to the local bureaucracies on national policy. . . If a developer proposes an out-of-town centre development, he must demonstrate that he has thoroughly assessed all potential Town Centre options.
• The England process and indeed the laws are much more geared to implementation than here. . . Of course, the land use laws are very different. The emphasis there is on compact development and regeneration of cities while protecting the farms and open space.

On Personal Growth:

• I got to meet a super family that I hope to stay in touch with throughout my life and that is more of a reward than anything. In addition, my co-workers took great interest in my exchange partner while he was here.
• The opportunities espoused in the International Exchange Program, requiring interaction not only on the professional but personal, family, and community level help make it a program that I would recommend to any planner.
• But most important, we brought back a lifetime memory and a newly established friendship. . . Not only was this an exchange between planners, but also an exchange between people involved with professional activities of the APA and RTPI.. . . It was not all work. Trips to a concert, to the opera, to the English coast, watching soccer on the telly at the pub, and a tour of local dining establishments were also part of the trip.
• For me, making this new friend was the best part of the exchange program.
• I had the opportunity to speak to a college class of students who were majoring in real estate. The students in Ireland seem to receive a much more technical education than we do.

Recommendations for the Program:

• Before scheduling the visits, find out what the planner is interested in; set up the appropriate meetings. Inform them as to how formal or informal your workplace is so they can dress appropriately.
• I think it is imperative that you are able to provide good accommodations for your visitor. They need room to spread out and room for privacy.
• You don't have to pack a lot of clothes since Europeans do not have the variety of clothes Americans have so they tend to wear the same jacket several times a week, besides you will be visiting outside the office so the same people won't see you every day anyway.
• I suggest that you travel before a weekend so you can overcome jet lag and acclimate yourself to the area.

Conclusions

The Exchange Program has demonstrated that many planners yearn for opportunities to expand their horizons and examine their profession in other nations. The reasons for this interest is the maturing of the profession, which usually leads to more introspection about what works and what doesn't work, and the need to recognize the global society we now live in. One exchange planner concluded his report by stating that the program "embodies the spirit of planning in the 21st century" and this is true. The environmental, social, land use challenges facing American cities are similar to those facing cities around the world and planners who are willing to explore solutions in a global context will be ones who achieve the greatest success. Hopefully, the Exchange Program is just the start of many such programs that APA will initiate in the 21st century.

David Laverny-Rafter, AICP, Professor and Director
Urban and Regional Studies Institute, Mankato State University, Mankato, Minnesota
and Coordinator, APA International Planning Exchange Program