MY PASSION

Throughout my studies at Griffith University, I have come to learn more about our built
environment and how it affects the very nature of our world. Throughout my education I have
developed a passion for our natural surroundings and how I, as an Urban Planner can assist in
maintaining and enhancing the pristine nature of our world. I am passionate and driven to provide
our communities with developments that are focused on sustainability and liveability. I strongly
believe in community participation within all planning processes to ensure our communities are
incorporated in planning matters that will affect their generations, as well as their future
generations to come.

THE PLANNING REALM

Throughout my education and my work experience I have experienced many issues planners
face and different ways these issues can be resolved. The one main issue I have experienced
through my practice is the importance and difficulties of stakeholder consultation throughout all
planning processes. This issue arose through my work experience where I experienced
technology barriers, and the burdens distance between offices can place on the valuable face-toface communication that is somewhat vital. These issues lead me to co-author an article titled,
The importance of stakeholder consultation within all planning processes, which can be found
in the Projects section of this site.
Another issue faced by planners is the ever growing concern regarding the detrimental effects
planning can have on the environment. Throughout my years as a student planner, I have read
many articles and case studies regarding this issue. I am yet to experience this issue in practice
due to my limited experience as a planner, with the little experience I have conducted being
within the environmental sector, deriving water quality guidelines used to protect the
environment. Regardless of my limited exposure to this issue in practice, the amounts of theory I
have read regarding this issue have led me to gain a substantive understanding of this issue.
Planners are often criticised about the lack emphasis placed on the effects planning can have on
the environment. With the growing knowledge of these effects, increasing amounts of planning
regulation that deal with these issues are being enforced to ensure planners are considering the
environmental effects of their work.
What I have learnt through my studies is that there must be a balance. Environmental effects and
the benefits of planning must be equally weighted in order to achieve a happy medium, where
planning is not impeded, and the detrimental effects placed on the environment are minimised.
Having said this, achieving the balance does not always come easy. A successful balance is
dependent on the how individual planner deciphers this balance and the weighting system, which
can yield a variety of ethical issues. These ethical issues that present themselves are a product
of the common gap between theory and practice within the planning realm. Large amounts of
articles have suggested many solutions to the issues that arise from environmental planning.
Many of these solutions suggested raise a range of ethical concerns, which may not have
presented themselves at the time of derivation. However, numerous case studies have displayed
this said gap between theory and practice by highlighting the ethical issues that arise when
considering the unethical solutions much theory suggests. When gaps such as these present
themselves, it is imperative that planners confirm the solutions theory suggests with relevant
solutions derived through practice. This method will ensure planners consider the faults in a
range of similar cases, in order to adjust their planning solutions to align with the best of the
stated theory, and historic practice.