"Planning is the process of preparing a set of decisions for action in the future, directed at achieving goals by preferable means" (Dror, cited in Faludi (1974)).
The above is a definition of "planning" given to us by planning theorist Yehezkel Dror. Planning can be a simple subconscious task or an extremely complex conscious process requiring the input of several people. In whatever form it is a process that affects everyone, everyday, in someway or another. Defining such a thing can be very difficult and will often produce a multitude of different theories. The following report explains and critically analyses Dror's definition by systematically breaking it down and examining his rationalization of the parts as well as encompassing the ideas of other planning theorists and my own personal experiences. Before this analysis takes place however one must first take into account the overall, in other words ask ourselves: why plan in the first place?.
Why Plan?.
Imagine a world without any form of planning; the more one tries to imagine what this would be like the more relevant and important it appears to be. Without planning in all of its contexts, the world would be in a chaotic state of disorganisation, everything would occur at random and life as we know it would be an impossibility. Planning occurs at both a conscious and a sub-conscious level, and for the purposes of this exercise we are really only interested in the conscious level.
People consciously plan for variety of reasons depending on their specific circumstances, however it can be said that one generic reason for planning is to improve ones future environment, from home comfort to more economical use of land and resources. Whatever the reason or goal of planning, it is more than likely going to affect several people. Planning is therefore crucial also to the maintenance of peace and goodwill at all levels within any group (even if it might sometimes appear to achieve the opposite).