Impressions of planning education in Central Europe

Abstract

In Central European countries planning is seen to be an Anglo-Saxon profes­sion which has to co-ordinate, resolve conflicts and help to make decisions in a democratic society. In countries under authoritarian regimes however, the role of planning was mostly restricted to the technical and aesthetic solutions of decisions which had already been made by bureaucrats. The “general sta ff’ were always planning the previous war, and as a consequence anything planning schools taught referred to past socio-economic reali­ties no longer valid (Polonyi, 1991).