Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/34048

Title

Microcomputers and the technology of planning

Author(s)

Newton, Peter W.

Abstract

Planning, like all other professions, has its own body of theory, method and philosophy---amply proscribed in a myriad of works by both academic and practitioner alike. By way of contrast the technology of planning is little addressed. Yet on a day-to-day basis for practitioners it is likely to consume significant portions of their time---increasingly so as new information technologies penetrate the work place. The concept of planning technology advanced here is one which is related not solely to equipment---essentially embracing microcomputer hardware and software in this essay---but also to the knowledge required in its operation and application to specific planning problems. Technology is always in a state of change---new ideas, techniques, products continually penetrate the market, supplanting old technology (but not always completely: within planning witness the retention of certain manual methods and mainframe packages for selected tasks---although their representation will continue to diminish as microcomputer applications accumulate). The substance of this paper is not based upon a premise that microcomputers are likely to constitute a revolutionary force within the workplace generally (and the planning sector in particular) by the end of this decade. Rather it is based on a reality of revolutionary change. [Introduction]

Publication type

Journal article

Source

Australian Planner, Vol. 24, no. 3 (Sep 1986), p. 5-11

Publication year

1986

Keyword(s)

Computer applications;  Information and communications technology;  Planning;  Technological change

Publisher

Royal Australian Planning Institute

ISSN

0729-3682

Peer reviewed