Ladislas Segoe and the Emergence of the Professional Planning Consultant

Abstract

From 1921 through 1968, the career of Ladislas Segoe (1894-1983) paralleled the evolution of professional planning. Frequently instrumental in the development and perfection of American planning practice, Segoe was involved in all levels and nearly all fields of planning. Through widespread and successful consulting work, publishing, and public speaking, Segoe was a tireless advocate of independent, professional planning. Through the Depression of the 1930s, World War II, the problems of urban renewal in the 1950s, and the civic unrest of the 1960s, he maintained a successful private practice. That success was due to the strength of his personality, the coherence of his vision of planning as an encompassing process, consistent and conscientious follow- through, and an insistence that planners be responsible, reasonable, and honest professionals. This article examines Segoe’s career within several discernible phases that parallel the development of American planning.