#Whats the difference between an Urban planner that works in the private firm than Government?

34 messages Ā· Page 1 of 1 (latest)

sharp zephyr
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(Benefits, contracts, working environment,how much power & the day to day life)

tawdry ore
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Hey. I work as a private consultant.

The private field is pretty wide with a lot of niches, but generally you can think of private planners as almost a sort of lawyer role.

We, the company/private planners, are not often pitching and planning our own developments, rather, our clientelle come to us for their developments. We work as a mediator between the developers and the public planning system to ensure the development gets through.

We're also pseudo project managers, in that our scope of works often extends beyond just planning work. Often we are engaging with ecologists, traffic consultants, geotechnical engineers etc to gather the background info for the site and make sure it's all up to snuff. For example, if our development involves clearing x amount of trees, we will need to ensure that ecologist advice suggests that it can be done with minimal harm at the environment at large.

Regarding things like benefits, usually the private sector pays a lot more generously with more benefits. However, you just gotta remember - unlike the public sector, you need to be making money to stay in business, and so the pressure and expectations are certainly higher. Performance is key to ensure you're keeping your head above water. I was even reprimanded for this a month ago - it's a bit to get used to!

The working environment will vary, and the level of power you have is nil. You'll most often be liasing directly with your client, communicating the latest news and extracting the info from them as necessary. Beyond that you'll be engaging with all the subconsultants and town planning staff at Council that are managing your development applications. As you're a private planner you have no power whatsoever - not only in a planning sense, but also what developments you are applying for. It's entirely the will of the customer - don't forget they are likely paying the firm megabucks for this. If they want to pull the plug, they can do so and walk.

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These are all generalisations as they apply to my experience though. The world of private planning is massive - I'm sure some others will be able to chime in with their own anecdotes

sharp zephyr
# tawdry ore Hey. I work as a private consultant. The private field is pretty wide with a lo...

Oh, Alright! I see now. I'm assuming if you work for the government in planning you have alot more power when it comes to decisions, planning, transit, limits, so on & so fourth. More or less the "rule makers". Especially with Policy Planning ~ Though, it would be delightful to have an Planner that works for the Municipal Government to see what they do!

Thank you for this information, it's really interesting to learn - but also helps with my career & what path I want to preceed on!

tawdry ore
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Kind of - not on the individual level, but the agency level. Planning decisions are lead by stakeholders and political figures; it's usually more up to the planners how to guide and integrate those decisions, even in the public sector.

sharp zephyr
tawdry ore
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Kiiiind of. This is the tricky part of planning!

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The people who often know the most have the least power to influence actual planning šŸ˜­

sharp zephyr
sharp zephyr
unreal wyvern
errant comet
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And depending on the municipality there may even be some initiative lying with urban planners, urban designers, transportation planners, traffic planners, climate resiliency and adaptation planners and a whole list of specialised planners

celest vine
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The two groups are opposite sides of the same coin. While the public officials regulate private development the private planner is there to guide the development through the obstacles.

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As a planner for an energy utility, itā€™s my job to make sure projects navigate the permitting realm successfully, especially when dealing with niche projects like utility poles, underground lines, transmission vs services, substations, and everything else it takes yo deliver power to our customers. To which most of the time, is not the day to day development cities cater to. So my job is to help smooth those aspects over. Work with cities to best fit projects into regulations and with project teams to follow the law and regulations.

meager token
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I work for the local government. It's mainly approving developments and finding opportunities for redevelopment

sharp zephyr
sharp zephyr
celest vine
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Honestly, I would highly recommend you look into what job availability is present for local utilities near you. Often people donā€™t think about them when they think of a career, meaning you kinda get first dibs most of the time. The big thing to know is to get your foot in the door is what matters. Once inside, you can more easily move toward a position of your preference, so playing the game may be necessary

sharp zephyr
celest vine
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This is one of them lol. But get your foot in the door and then play around with what is interesting to you. Keep in mind that our planning skillsets are useful in a variety of ways. Sometimes even a project or program manager knowing what we know can make or break a project.

sharp zephyr
celest vine
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Yes! Pretty typical for a utility to do. It has everything to do with their natural monopoly status. They are guaranteed a monopoly over an area because that is how electricity works, but they are either public agencies or regulated to a degree of one. So while Iā€™m a private sector employee technically, it feels more like a public agency in many ways.

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Our attitude is more like a public agency, our responsibility is public facing, our regulations and authority is no different than a public entity.

sharp zephyr
sharp zephyr
celest vine
celest vine
sharp zephyr
sharp zephyr
celest vine
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Exactly, but the imperfections that exist is where we can do our work to make things better!

sharp zephyr
tawdry inlet
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I've worked in both private and public organizations. One key limitation in private organizations is scope. If a solution is outside scope, it may be a good idea but your company isn't getting paid for it so you can't explore it. In good public sector agencies, you often can explore solutions that aren't in a neat scope box.