Experience, Skills, and Personality Traits
Aspiring planners should obtain several years’ of experience in the planning field as assistants, interns, or in other positions.
In addition to being interested in planning, urban and regional planners should have design skills and a good understanding of spatial relationships. Good analytical skills help them in evaluating projects. Planners must be able to visualize the relationships between streets, buildings, parks, and other developed spaces and anticipate potential planning problems. As a result, logic and problem-solving abilities are also important.
Related Professions
- Ambassadors
- Architects
- Assessors and Appraisers
- Aviation Safety Inspectors
- Bailiffs
- Bank Examiners
- Border Patrol Agents
- Building Performance Diagnosticians
- Campaign Workers
- City Managers
- Civil Engineering Technicians
- Civil Engineers
- Computer-Aided Design Drafters and Technicians
- Congressional Aides
- Construction Inspectors
- Construction Managers
- Credit Analysts
- Cryptographic Technicians
- Customs Officials
- Demographers
- Deputy U.S. Marshals
- Drafters
- Economists
- Emergency Management Directors
- Engineers
- Environmental Engineers
- Environmental Lobbyists
- Environmental Planners
- EPA Special Agents
- Ergonomists
- FBI Agents
- Federal and State Officials
- Fish and Game Wardens
- Foreign Service Officers
- Fraud Examiners, Investigators, and Analysts
- Furniture Designers
- Futurists
- Geodetic Surveyors
- Green Builders
- Grounds Managers
- Health and Regulatory Inspectors
- Home Stagers
- Household Movers
- Industrial Designers
- Insurance Policy Processing Workers
- Insurance Underwriters
- Intelligence Officers
- Interior Designers and Decorators
- Interpreters
- Land Acquisition Professionals
- Land Trust or Preserve Managers
- Landscape Architects
- Landscapers
- Loan Officers and Counselors
- Lobbyists
- Military Recruiters
- Military Workers, Enlisted
- National Park Service Employees
- Occupational Safety and Health Workers
- Park Rangers
- Policy Analysts
- Political Columnists and Writers
- Political Consultants
- Political Reporters
- Political Scientists
- Political Speechwriters
- Press Secretaries
- Property and Real Estate Managers
- Public Opinion Researchers
- Real Estate Agents and Brokers
- Real Estate Clerks
- Real Estate Developers
- Real Estate Educators
- Real Estate Lawyers
- Real Estate Writers
- Recycling Coordinators
- Regional and Local Officials
- Secret Service Special Agents
- Statisticians
- Surveyors
- Swimming Pool Designers
- Title Searchers and Examiners
- Traffic Engineers
- Translators
- Transportation Planners