Governing for Social Equity

American communities are changing fast: ethnic minority populations are growing, home ownership is falling, the number of people per household is going up, and salaries are going down. According to Marc Brenman and Thomas W. Sanchez, the planning field is largely unprepared for these fundamental shifts.

If planners are going to adequately serve residents of diverse ages, races, and income levels, they need to understand basic issues of equity. In Planning as if People Matter: Governing for Social Equity, Brenman and Sanchez offer practical solutions to make our communities more livable and more equitable for all residents.

Planning as if People Matter provides new insights about familiar topics such as stakeholder participation, civil rights, and ethics, and it addresses emerging issues, including disaster response, new technologies, and equity metrics. Chapters discuss topics such as changing demographics, the role of the planner, diversity and inclusion, technology, and social equity interventions.

This accessible volume is poised to become a vital resource for planning practitioners, public administrators, policy-makers, activists, and students.

In this tumultuous period of economic change, there has never been a better time to reform the planning process. Brenman and Sanchez point the way toward a more just and social landscape.

Marc Brenman is Principal, Social Justice Consultancy. Thomas W. Sanchez is Chair and Professor of the Urban Affairs and Planning Program at Virginia Tech and Nonresident Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution. Together they authored The Right to Transportation: Moving to Equity (2007).