South African Institute of Town and Regional Planners report of the president: October 1990

Abstract

All professions need to respond to changes in the environment within which they operate and ours is no ex­ception - as we enter the I990s, town and regional planners are faced with a rapidly changing socio-political con­text as well as the pressures resulting from increasing levels of urbanisation and concern about sustaining the natural environment. Planners need to consider in what ways we should adapt and how we can contribute to the planning and de­velopment needs of the new era, and with this in mind I will address three questions:
- What has changed significantly?
- Why should planners respond to the changing circumstances?
- What principles should guide our response as planners?