"Good Planning": In Conversation with Dr. Wayne Caldwell

How do you practice good planning? This question has consumed students, teachers, and practitioners alike since planning became a profession. SEDRD Director, Dr. Wayne Caldwell shares his thoughts on planning, planners, and his projects.

What is Good Planning Practice?

For Dr. Caldwell, good planning means serving the public interest. “As Planners, we are always thinking of the public interest,” said Dr.  Caldwell. “We have a professional obligation to define the public interest in a consultative manner and implement it through policies and programs.”.

What Skills Do Planners Need?

Dr. Caldwell spoke of the attributes that he thinks Professional Planners need to be able to distill the public interest. First and foremost, Planners need to have the interests of community at heart (however broadly defined). This may include working for the betterment of individuals, communities, the environment, and the public at large. In addition, they need good listening skills, an interdisciplinary lens, sound judgment, empathy and the ability to see both sides of a situation, foresight, facilitation skills, and creativity.

Working on the Piloting of the Stewardship Manual

Projects and Vision

Dr. Caldwell’s work reflects his core interest in the future of rural communities. “Rural communities do not exist as museums; they change,” he says. “Our job as planners is to try to preserve some parts while helping the communities grow and providing opportunities for residents.” He makes the case that the job of rural planners is to “balance the ideal view of the rural with the realistic need for evolution, change and often growth.”

The projects that Dr. Caldwell has undertaken reflect his vision for rural communities. Centering on notions of sustainability, he has worked on projects that focus on the quality of life of rural populations (Healthy Rural Communities Toolkit and Huron County Active Transportation), environmental stewardship (Municipal Readiness for Environmental Planning; Farmland Preservation, Climate Change and Municipalities), and economic growth (Rural Community Economic Development and Working with Rural Immigrants). The Healthy Rural Communities Toolkit, funded by Public Health Ontario, represents a new direction for Dr. Caldwell and is important because it “challenges us to think of rural health”. It is clear that rural people and rural populations fare lower on indicators of health than their urban counterparts. One health-promoting option for local economic development is to plan for active transportation in rural communities. More information and details about his current and past projects can be found at: www.waynecaldwell.ca.

In speaking about his projects, Dr. Caldwell explained that his vision is for “communities to have the tools they need to help charter their own destiny.  Planning can provide the foundation for communities, helping them to make informed, wise, long-term decisions that can help people influence their own futures.”