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PAB Knowledge Components

On this page you will find a list of Planning Accreditation Board (PAB) Knowledge Components from the most recent (November 2006) Accreditation Document.

List of PAB Knowledge Components

4.2.1. An understanding of human settlement as it relates to planning based on knowledge of the relevant concepts and theories from:

Elements:

  • 4.2.1. (a) social sciences (history, economics, sociology, political science, anthropology, psychology, geography) including knowledge of the social and spatial structure of urban and regional systems, local public finance, economics of development, infrastructure provision and effects of globalization.
  • 4.2.1. (b) the environmental sciences (biology, ecology, environmental studies) including knowledge about ecological and physical systems in relation to human activity at different geographic scales.
  • 4.2.1. (c) the design arts (architecture, landscape architecture, art, urban design) including knowledge about the relationship between the design of the built environment and its functional, aesthetic and social precedents and consequences.
  • 4.2.1. (d) legal studies including knowledge about constitutional rights and principles, state and local government law, administrative rules and regulations, especially those focusing on the use and taxation of land.

4.2.2. An understanding of historical and contemporary planning practice, policy and processes based on knowledge of the relevant concepts and theories pertaining to:

Elements:

  • 4.2.2. (a) the purpose and meaning of planning and its ethical, visionary, and normative imperatives.
  • 4.2.2. (b) history of urban planning practice and the development of urban planning profession in the United States and abroad.
  • 4.2.2. (c) the institutions that both shape and respond to plans and planning-related activities: including knowledge of the economic, social and political institutions that influence planning and that are susceptible to purposeful change.  At a minimum this study should include institutions across scale (e.g. local to global) and sector (e.g. public, private and nonprofit).
  • 4.2.2. (d) methods that anticipate and envision future changes to society and the built environment, such as knowledge of forecasts, risk assessment, futures scenarios and other tools for creating plan alternatives.
  • 4.2.2. (e) the creation, use, and knowledge of comprehensive and other types of plans.
  • 4.2.2. (f) the adoption, administration and implementation of plans and related policy including knowledge of the relevant regulations (zoning, review processes), incentives, techniques (public finance and capital budgeting) and technologies, and agencies conducting planning or employing planners.
  • 4.2.2. (g) knowledge of the ways in which planners and planning practice have succeeded in altering the policies, institutions, and decisions that oppose the needs of disadvantaged persons.
  • 4.2.2 (h) the laws and policies relating to environmental planning and the principles and scientific support for assessing the capacity of natural and built resources.

4.2.3. Possess the skills needed to practice planning in a variety of venues in ways consistent with the ethical norms for planning, including:

Elements:

  • 4.2.3. (a) use problem solving skills to select, diagnose and solve relevant aspects of a complex planning problem including attention to the needs and interests of diverse stakeholders and the guidance provided by conceptual and empirical expertise.
  • 4.2.3. (b) use research skills to identify, test and evaluate empirical relationships between various aspects of urban settlements, or plans  and policy outcomes, and to conduct such research from conception to completion.
  • 4.2.3. (c) use written, oral and graphic skills to compose clear, accurate and compelling text, images and maps in documents and oral presentations.
  • 4.2.3. (d) use numerical reasoning and computation skills to conduct quantitative analysis of social and geographic information for basic professional planning purposes, problems and projects.
  • 4.2.3. (e) collaborate with peers in joint learning activities organized to produce a plan or planning product for a relevant professional clientele,  to mediate disagreements, to interpret contested purposes, and to negotiate between diverse and competing interests.
  • 4.2.3. (f) use ideas about the creation of plans, programs or projects to prepare an individually crafted product for a specific planning purpose and audience; demonstrating skill and judgment preparing a planning project that meets minimum professional standards.
  • 4.2.3. (g) use forecasts and scenarios to anticipate and describe future changes in society and the built environment.
  • 4.2.3. (h) use techniques for the adoption and implementation of plans including relevant regulations, incentives, techniques and technologies.
  • 4.2.3. (i) work with diverse communities, especially communities consisting of disadvantaged groups and persons and racial and ethnic minorities, or immigrant communities.

4.2.4 Understand the different values and ethical standards affecting the practice of planning, demonstrating knowledge for:

Elements:

  • 4.2.4. (a) comprehending and discriminating among the goals that an individual, group, community and organization holds when considering the future including the values of justice, equity, fairness, efficiency, order and beauty.
  • 4.2.4. (b) assessing and choosing among different forms of democratic decision making that support and improve the quality of plans and planning related activity including the values of fair representation, equal opportunity and non discrimination by race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, nationality, sexual orientation or disability.
  • 4.2.4. (c) comparing and respecting the complex social, historical and ecological legacies that accompanies urban settlement across the globe including the values of social equity, cultural and historical preservation and environmental conservation and sustainability.

4.2.5. Specialization(s) (Optional):  A program may require that its students develop knowledge of the relevant concepts and theories of at least one area of specialized knowledge of a particular subject or set of issues to gain sufficient depth to a basic level of expertise in their work, typically but not limited to housing, land use, economic development, urban design, comparative international urban development, environmental planning and management, transportation or urban design.