Created by Dr Roberto Rocco at TU Delft, the Great Planning Game aims to (a) familiarise students with the roles of planners in scenarios of network governance, (b) encourage students to discuss their roles and the ethical values attached to them, and (c) to help students develop tools they might use while performing various planning roles.

On Tuesday, postgraduate students in our Planning Theory course played the GPG. Here are some of their reactions:

“It is almost impossible to fulfill everyone needs, and because planning includes many layers.”

“The drive for more money can make a big difference to planning outcomes. Planners who represent developers face an ethical dilemma in that they should help their client achieve the best outcome (which for a developer might be a taller building or smaller lots), but they shouldn’t compromise their own values (maybe they feel community input should be a larger part of the process). This offers an opportunity, perhaps even an obligation, for planners to guide their clients through the development process to arrive at more well-rounded outcomes.”

“I personally found it satisfying to see the multitude of ways that one singular project could shape each planning role and it was also satisfying to apply the theory we’ve so far learnt into practice.”