Multinational Survey: Planners' Use of New Technology

Planners are constantly adopting new technologies in their practice and research. Do we have a sense of how new and expanded digital technologies will impact their work? Will planners first start using AI in community engagement or administrative work?

In "Digital Technology Use and Future Expectations" (Journal of the American Planning Association, Vol. 90, No. 3) Claire Daniel, Elizabeth Wentz, Petra Hurtado, Wei Yang, and Christopher Pettit conducted a cross-country comparative research study on the adoption of technology within the planning profession.

Embarking on one of the largest and most wide-ranging technology adoption surveys in recent years, the authors used an online survey to gauge the implications and potential for planning practice. Their findings can help align investment in training and new technologies.

Inclusion Online

In an online survey, planners from the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand noted that COVID-19 accelerated the adoption of virtual meeting software and shared drives. They also reported increased community engagement, especially involving those unable to attend in-person events.

Despite this, there was little evidence of increased or transformational use of specialist software. Across the board, the results indicated continued low use of planning-specific digital tools but high expectations for future change.

Results showed that the day-to-day work of planners is similar across the countries surveyed. There was limited adoption of planning-specific or data-intensive digital tools.

When probing the current technological desires of planners, data technologies ranked second in priority, behind technologies aimed at improving office efficiencies and automating bureaucratic work. Community engagement technology was the lowest priority. The authors recommend that this topic receive more active consideration if its potential is to be realized.

Figure 4: "What type of software, web or phone applications do you use in your current role?"

Planning for Future Technology

When assessing how technology will change the field of planning, the authors point to evidence of growing technical specialization among planners, indicating promising prospects for graduate programs in urban data science — a relatively new discipline offered at only a few universities across the surveyed countries.

For the wider planning workforce, new professional and administrative software innovations, such as AI, are likely to have the biggest impact on everyday work and should be the focus of future training. In an ideal future, planners are not passive users of technology; they can connect the dots between new technology, evolving work, and community engagement.

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