Ethical Dilemmas in Professional Planning Practice in the United States

Abstract

Problem, research strategy, and findings: We interviewed 61 practicing planners seeking deeper insights into what motivates their decisions and how they personally determine ethical behavior in the more contested and real-world situations they face. We asked how planners balance their own ethics, their individual take on professional planning ethics, their workplace cultures, and the specific principles embodied in professional codes. We combined these semistructured qualitative interviews with our prior survey results as part of a sequential mixed-methods research project to allow practitioners and academics to better understand the ethical bases of professional planning practice in the United States. Our interviewees confirmed most practicing planners regularly face ethical dilemmas in their professional practice. We find, in addition to the expected ethical dilemmas due to planners’ commitments to both the scientific legitimacy of their technical analysis and the democratic legitimacy of political decision makers’ implementation of those recommendations, most of our interviewees experienced ethical conflicts between their private ethics and those they use in their professional practice. Despite this ethical dissonance, their espoused behaviors were largely consistent with rule-based ethical frameworks, many of which are embedded in the AICP Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. Though practicing planners felt the code was influential and useful, they also found it difficult to follow in practice. Finally, private-sector planners felt the code neglects to address the ethical concerns they face in practice.

Takeaways for practice: Professional planners use different ethical frameworks depending on the context of the ethical dilemma faced and their workplace culture. Professional planners struggle with emotional and ethical dissonance in their attempts to balance their private ethics, their workplace norms and culture, and their professional code of ethics. The AICP Code could benefit from a round of revisions focusing on how the code can help minimize this inherent dissonance. Finally, professional planners should practice resolving ethical conflicts between their private and professional ethical perspectives as well as those between the legitimacy of technical planning expertise and democratic decision making.

Keywords:

• AICP Code of Ethics
• ethical dilemmas
• ethical dissonance
• ethical frameworks
• planning practice

Supplemental Material

Supplemental data for this article can be found on the publisher’s website.

NOTES

Notes

1 Section B of the AICP Code is that portion of the code from which an AICP-certified planner can be held accountable. Although this is rarely enforced, an AICP-certified planner can lose his or her certification for violating these rules.

2 It should be noted that not all APA members are AICP certified. In fact, only 69% of our interviewees indicated they were AICP certified. Regardless, most APA members consider themselves part of the community of U.S. professional planners and view the AICP Code of Ethics as the code of ethics for all members of that professional community even if they personally cannot be sanctioned for not abiding by its rules.

3 Although it would have been useful to link the data from the interviews directly to the survey responses to evaluate the representativeness of the interview sample and to evaluate the clarity of survey, this would have weakened survey respondent anonymity.

4 The graphs show more than 61 responses because three interviewees had dual degrees in planning and another field such as civil engineering.

5 AICP Code violation enforcement is rare; therefore, the real threat implied here is political workplace retribution for not ignoring the code.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mickey Lauria

MICKEY LAURIA ([email protected]) is a professor of city and regional planning and director of the Planning, Design, and Built Environment PhD program at Clemson University.

Mellone F. Long

MELLONE F. LONG, AICP ([email protected]), worked as a planner in various capacities for 15 years and is currently an assistant college lecturer in urban studies and planning at Cleveland State University.