Editorial

Abstract

International support for computers in planning There is no question that computers have become an integral part of planning practice and education throughout the world. Microcomputers are found in virtually every planning office and academic department. Intense competition for a vast and rapidly growing international market ensures that computer equipment will continue to become less expensive, operate faster, store more information, and provide better graphics than they did only a few months ago. Equally intense competition among software providers promotes the development of increasingly more powerful and easier to use software tools. Equally important, a wealth of national, regional, and local data are becoming available in standardized digital formats. These developments have already been examined in some detail in three special issues of this journal: Yeh (1988), Yeh and Batty (1990), and Klosterman and Langendorf (1992). However, the available evidence suggests that the computers on planners' desks are still being used largely to word process documents, maintain budgets, and store data in order to improve internal management and increase office efficiency. Even the increasingly ubiquitous geographic information systems (GIS) are being used primarily for routine management functions such as mapping current conditions, conducting traditional 'McHargian' suitability analysis, and processing development and inspection permits. The situation is similar in planning education where most "computers in planning" courses are devoted almost exclusively to training students to use general-purpose software tools and, in an increasing number of cases, a particular GIS package.