Societal Planning: Identifying a New Role for the Transport Planner-Part I

It has been amply demonstrated over the last three decades that public planning is subject to rapid change and great uncertainties, both in dealing with political objectives as well as dealing with new technologies. In the paper the notion of "unbounded uncertainty" is set forth as a relevant concept.

The concept is used collectively to point to and explain the many obstacles faced by planners in carrying out planning as prescribed by the well-known Rational Planning Model (RPM). It is concluded that there is a need for the planner to integrate and master in a new role skills both from the "hard" quantitative approach as well as the "soft" qualitative one.