Socially Responsible Practice: The Battle to Reshape the American Institute of Planners

Abstract

This article explores how events of a particular era, 1959–1974, contributed to the reshaping of ideas about planners’ social responsibilities. It describes encounters between Planners for Equal Opportunity and American Institute of Planners (AIP) relating to the need for planners to help protect the disadvantaged and to counter racial or economic oppression in professional practice. It suggests that the years from 1959, when AIP issued a slight revision of its code of professional conduct, to 1974, when it developed a proposal for dispersed advocacy planning, were the setting for major changes in understanding about the need for social justice in planning practice.