This book assembles and organizes a selected range of methods and techniques that every planning practitioner should know to be successful in the contemporary global urban landscape. The book is unique because it links different aspects of the planning/policy-making enterprise with the appropriate methods and approaches, thus contextualizing the use of specific methods and techniques within a sociopolitical and ethical framework. This volume familiarizes readers with the diverse range of methods, techniques, and skills that must be applied at different scales in dynamic workplace environments where planning policies and programs are developed and implemented. This book is an invaluable resource in helping new entrants to the planning discourse and profession set aside their own disciplinary biases and empowering them to use their expert knowledge to address societal concerns.

Chapter One: Planning as Storytelling.- Chapter Two: Planning Challenges and the Challenges of Planning.- Chapter Three: Planning Grand.- Chapter Four: Placemaking: Everything is Local.- Chapter Five: Civic Engagement.- Chapter Six: Implementation and Sustainability.- Chapter Seven: Epilogue. 

Dr. Laxmi Ramasubramanian is an Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College in New York. She earned her bachelors degree and her first masters in Architecture at the University of Madras in India, her second masters in City Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and her PhD in Architecture and Environment-Behavior Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Her research specializations include participatory planning, sustainable community development, Geographic Information Science (GIS) and urban visualization.

Dr. Jochen Albrecht is a Professor for Computational and Theoretical Geography at Hunter College in New York. He earned his bachelors and masters in geography at University of Hamburg, and his PhD in Geographic Information Science at University of Vechta in Germany. His recent research includes spatial regression modeling of drivers of global greenhouse gas emissions, behavioral modeling of environmental stressors in New York City, and principles of GIS program management.