Berkeley Planning Journal

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Berkeley Planning journal. The end of a decade marks a good time to reflect on its past and future significance for readers, authors, editors, and the field of planning.

The early 1980s were marked by questions about the boundaries, limits, and significance of the field coupled with a search for new paradigms. Founding editor Hilda Blanco, now on the faculty of Hunter College, wrote: "Planning is a major human practice, on the par with science or art, indispensable and ever expanding in niodern society." The founding editors wanted to push the field beyond its tra· ditional focus on land use. They envisioned a Berkeley spirit or style of planning that drew from broad intellectual traditions, made a close connection to the social sciences and social research, and had a so­ cial conscience, expressed in an early rejection of the planning pro­ fession as merely technical expertise, its critical attitude towards es­ tablished institutions, and its strong advocacy for social justice.