Planner: The Person, the Book, and the Profession
A planner organises things in advance, and is also the notebook used to do it. Town planning is the profession that shapes where buildings go.
A planner is someone who plans, a diary or wall chart used for planning, and in local government a professional who decides how land may be used. Town planners hold real power: whether a development is approved, how tall it may be and what must be built alongside it are planning decisions.
- Someone who plans. *A careful planner.*
- A diary or chart. *A wall planner.*
- A town planning professional. *The council's planners.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | planner | An event planner. |
| Plural | planners | City planners. |
| Verb | plan | Plan ahead. |
| Noun | planning | Planning permission. |
| Adjective | planned | A planned closure. |
How it is used in a sentence
- She keeps everything in a paper planner.The object.
- Planners rejected the application.Local government.
- Planning permission was granted with conditions.British planning law.
Planning vocabulary
- Planning permission — approval to build or change use
- Zoning — the American system of land use categories
- Green belt — land protected from development around cities
- Change of use — converting a building to a different purpose
- Listed building — protected for its historic interest
From *plan*, from French, from Latin *planum*, a flat surface — a plan was first a drawing of a building's footprint, and only later a scheme of action.
Why does *plan* mean both a drawing and a scheme?
Because it began as the flat ground plan of a building. A scheme of action is a plan in the same sense: laid out before it is built.
Planning permission or zoning?
Britain decides case by case through planning permission. American zoning sets rules by area in advance.