ABSTRACT

Planning at the national level as a field of knowledge and research has received very limited attention, let alone as a public policy domain influencing the delivery of planning education. This chapter delves into the origins and evolving conceptions of planning at the national level with a focus on liberal capitalist nation-states and examines how national planning reorientations influence the content and provision of planning education. It achieves this first by depicting the evolving political ideologies and roles of national planning in catering to growth and development. Drawing on their professional experience as planning educators in master’s programs and specializations in urban and regional planning, the authors then discuss how such planning reorientations have influenced the delivery of planning knowledge and skills in different European countries. The overall contribution of the chapter is to address substantial reorientations concerning planning at the national level while shedding light on how these shifts have influenced what prospective planners need to know and what they need to be taught.