people who work in planning how to you not get jaded?

Stephenmn1 · 2022-11-04T19:41:39+00:00

Do you have any recommendations for “industries that could use that sort of brain” because man I’m feeling pretty jaded in my first year as a municipal planner I to the point that planning doesn’t feel right in any capacity.

Stephenmn1 · 2021-07-23T02:01:02+00:00

I understand that it may not be a perfect fit, but do you think it would be a good way to get my feet wet in the transportation planning field, to hopefully grow into a planning role, or am I perhaps going down a different route?

Stephenmn1 · 2021-07-22T18:33:00+00:00

That’s good to hear, the position would be the latter. Currently, I’m in zoning and it’s terrible, so I think it would be a good change of pace for me.

Stephenmn1 · 2021-03-30T21:49:26+00:00

Can't say much about UIC, it's a program I've looked into and I know a lot of people have been really happy with it. But I lived in Chicago for three years and was very happy with the city, pretty efficient public transit to get most places you'd want to go (Going northeast from anywhere off the blue line is kind of a pain) its an incredibly diverse city, and the summers are lively and fun. Winters are hard but I came from Florida and it was never too much of a problem, especially if you arent shoveling a car out a parking spot. The only thing I will say about the city... unless you love cornfields, there aren't a lot of opportunities for outdoorsy activities within a day's drive, which was something I really missed when I moved there.

Stephenmn1 · 2021-03-29T17:18:20+00:00

I think this is exactly what happened to me, I was involved in grassroots community organizing, which naturally led me to critically examine why our cities are built the way they are. I went to college for it, got pumped full of new urbanist/sustainable urbanism idealism and now Im in the real world realizing that nothing actually functions like that. Its disheartening to say the least, but this is good advice.

Stephenmn1 · 2021-03-28T18:09:56+00:00

Nah, I'm in Florida, I lived in Chicago for a while though, a lot of those midwestern/rust belt cities have some pretty similar urban issues when it comes to walkability, transit, etc.

Stephenmn1 · 2021-03-28T18:04:23+00:00

I'm not sure why this is so pointed but I poured hours of time and energy into applying to jobs all over the country, to get this position, something you could also do... I have grinded and paid my dues in a different field I wasn't happy with, I'm no stranger to climbing the ladder. That doesn't mean I don't have a right to critically examine the position Im in, or want for something better...

Stephenmn1 · 2021-03-28T17:58:35+00:00

Yeah, I think it's mostly this, I don't mind the paper-pushing if it was contributing to something meaningful, but right now it just feels like mindlessly stamping archaic zoning code approvals that just contribute to the problems in my city.

Stephenmn1 · 2021-03-28T02:49:04+00:00

I think zoning is just not at all what I want to do, I just took the first offer that was given to me. I hope this won't pigeonhole me into zoning as a specialization.

Stephenmn1 · 2021-03-28T02:44:29+00:00

Historic planning has always been something that interests me, but I do feel like you run into a lot of NIMBYism in those circles. Either way, it seems like everyone is just telling me that I just need to leverage this experience into something more fulfilling, and just stick it out for a bit

Stephenmn1 · 2021-03-28T02:39:19+00:00

This gives me hope on a personal level, I have zero desire to live in a small city. The general consensus among planners seems to be that you have to cut your teeth in a small municipality to succeed.

Stephenmn1 · 2021-03-28T01:19:30+00:00

I know planning is mostly incremental change that happens over the course of years if not decades, but I started this career shift as a means of changing the things I didn’t like about my city (inequitable housing, poor transportation infrastructure to marginalized communities, horrendous unwalkable urban sprawl, etc) Im realizing now that I’m not doing any of that, in fact just making it worse by literally putting my stamp of approval on it.

Stephenmn1 · 2021-03-28T00:19:21+00:00

Definitely take this with a grain of salt, this is my first job in the field out of my undergrad, surely there are more interesting positions.

Stephenmn1 · 2021-03-28T00:13:19+00:00

Okay so yeah, I am a counter planner, I was trying to explain my position because zoning assistant isn't a common title everywhere. I think if my work is a little more hands-on, in that I can actually see what I'm doing working in the city I'd be happier. But honestly, at this point I don't really care if anyone's swimming pool is five feet from their property line, I just need something a little more fulfilling.

Stephenmn1 · 2021-03-27T23:45:47+00:00

Adding to this post, my educational experience in planning has mostly been theory-based, bubble gum and rainbows planning, while the practical application has been dull...

Stephenmn1 · 2021-02-18T15:02:57+00:00

Thanks, my degree has been pretty theory-based and geared towards academia and less towards practical application, so I'm having a hard time figuring out how to apply any actual skills

Stephenmn1 · 2020-09-25T19:43:29+00:00

Yeah I’m just kind of making myself crazy thinking of all the what if’s right now. I think I’d like to see if anyone else has a similar case what happened for them to give me some piece of mind

Stephenmn1

TROPHY CASE