Planner by choice, accident, and destiny!!! It was meant to be.

I am a Planner - a community planner. I plan cities, towns, neighbourhoods, so I am a community Planner. In a leadership meeting at  work, we discussed the topic' Purpose'. How ' purpose'  drives an action, inspires, and make people do the right thing. This is not the topic of my Blog, so lets not go into the details. But we watched video from American Planning Association's website, where different individuals talked about why they chose the field of planning. Their reasons were to make a difference, to make communities better, healthier, to make cities sustainable, and so on. Whenever I hear such things, I wonder why did I become a Planner? And this time I decided to think about it. 

To be honest, I don't think I selected my profession to be do something good for this world or my community. I chose what I thought I would enjoy doing. Completely selfish reason and I am thankful for that decision. When I look back at my teen age or even my twenties, I wasn't really aware of the ways of this world. I come from a middle class family from a developing country, India, where you are told you have to go into some professional school to have a decent career and lifestyle. I had a reputation of somewhat bright student in my family and school. So, getting into professional degree program such as engineering, medical, architecture, etc. was expected and anything less than that would have been unacceptable to me then. My first choice was medical. I really liked biology but hated chemistry. I didn't score enough to get into medical. Again to be perfectly honest, I didn't study enough. So my family wanted me to join engineering or computer science, like most Indian families in those times. I was clear, that I did not want to go for either of those options.  So, I decided to go into Architecture school, which was always my second choice. I was good at drawing and somehow I could see myself as an architect. In addition to the Grade 12 marks, there was an aptitude test for getting admission into Architecture school. I scored  high in the aptitude test and was able to secure the admission in Mumbai.  I did well in school and by the end of it, I was sure that Architecture was more for me than medical. So, it all worked out. 

But in competitive country like India, I thought it wasn't enough for me to stop with Bachelor's degree in Architecture. To stand out in the crowd, I needed a specialization - A master's degree. In Architecture program we studied Town Planning, Landscape Architecture, Interior Design along with Architectural Design and many technical courses.  I enjoyed Town Planning and considered as an option for specialization and quickly dropped the idea. Scope for Planning in India and especially in Mumbai was not so promising then. I felt landscape architecture was not very challenging and meaningful, as it was mostly used as a beautification tool. Now I realize, it can be more than that. In the third year of Architecture I came across the term 'environmental design' or ' environmentally friendly design'. Later, through my final year thesis I explored this topic further and developed a keen interest in this subject. After graduation, I worked as an architect for a couple of years while getting ready to apply for master's degree programs. I decided I was going to specialize in Environmental Design. A field quite new for that time. 

 It was time when internet, google was still pretty new. Internet speed  and connections was quite slow and not every household had the net connection. Internet cafes were used to be busy. It was the era of floppies. There were a very few universities that offered master's program in Environmental Design. Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) Ahmedabad was one of them. There were three institutes that offered post graduation options after graduation in India, CEPT, School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). Of these universities, only CEPT had an environmental focus. I needed to secure a spot in merit list in the all India entrance exam to get admission in these institute. There was no short cut or any private schools then.  I cleared the entrance exam considered toughest and was among top 150 in India. However, I chose not to join any of these institutes as I did not want to pursue Planning career in India, a decision partially based on lack of information. I didn't know much about how to apply for the universities abroad, and not much information was available for students of architecture unlike for engineering students. Back then, I also had an ego or a weird hesitation to ask for help. That's how based on limited available information, I selected EVDS, University of Calgary and luckily EVDS picked me. I thought I was going to study environmental design as a further enhancement to my Architectural knowledge. But then realized that most of the architectural courses at EVDS Masters program, I had covered in my Bachelor's degree and therefore there was no point repeating. So, I ended up making urban design the focus of my masters  studies. Interdisciplinary problem solving approach was the focus at the EVDS and this was my greatest learnings and proved most helpful in my professional practice. Urban design is a bridge between architecture and planning, between public and private realm. My dissertation ended up being a planning exercise as I picked a topic of downtown revitalization of a small Albertan Town. 

You are, the choices you make. I was an architect by choice, in spite of my family warning and trying to persuade me against going in construction related profession. My joining EVDS was by choice. Now I was at a point where I had three choices a job offer with an Architectural firm in Vancouver, a job offer with a Landscape Architect in Calgary, and with a Planning-Engineering firm in Edmonton as an Urban Designer. I  chose the last option. Due to the lack of urban design projects, I started working on Planning projects and my journey as a planner initiated. I was good at physical planning, i.e. site planning and creating community layouts because of my Architectural background. Urban design skills helped in infusing life in Plans and in turn in the communities I planned. Whereas holistic critical thinking, and inter-disciplinary problem soling approach was the key to my planning practice. 

So, why am I a Planner? Because I followed my heart. Went away from Planning for practical reasons, followed my passion for environmental design, and incorporated my urban and environmental design knowledge in my Planning practice and thereby completing a complete circle. Architecture is the foundation of my practice and that distinguishes me from the rest. I am actually grateful that I did not take Masters in Planning but chose to study urban design in my masters.  I am a passionate planner, and I am driven by doing good work and giving my best to the projects I do. I never thought that I am a planner to do something good for the community and humanity. I feel that I am such a small part of the cosmos and my contribution through my work will be like a drop in the ocean. So, I never looked at my work as my purpose. I do it because I love doing it, I think I do it well, and I give my more than 100%. I am not a surgeon who has ability to save someone's life, but like most other professions or jobs (in varying range) my work has ability to enhance quality of life, and that I am aware of. More importantly, my work has ability to enhance quality of life for future generations.