Abstract
Planning employment in Australia is undergoing significant change. The importance of planning as a profession is increasing, the number of planners employed in Australia more than doubled between 2000 and 2013, and vacant planning positions are filled with relative ease and attract large numbers of qualified applicants. While this is good news for planning as a profession, it means that employment prospects for graduating planners have weakened in recent years as the labor market has tightened. This chapter explores the changing planning education and employment landscape and what it means to “be” a planner and to “do” planning work in Australia.
This chapter explores the changing planning education and employment landscape and focuses on significant aspects of what it means to "be" a planner and to "do" planning work in Australia. In particular, it explores the potential education and planning implications of the combination of an increasingly competitive labor market and a changing emphasis on the skills and experience required in the education-to-employment transition of an early career planner. This consideration of "becoming" a planner includes discussion around increasing employer expectations of relevant work experience and the trend toward pregraduation professional work experience, particularly unpaid work. Finally, the chapter considers the tensions associated with "doing" planning and managing the potential disconnect between the planning ideals that attract students to becoming a planner and the ethical concerns, emotional challenges, and other compromises inherent in actual planning practice.