What does an urban planner or city planner do?

Urban planners, also called city planner, plan neighborhoods. If you wonder exactly what they do. They report on the best location for houses, stores, and parks. They try to solve many problems, such as too much traffic and increases in air pollution. Planners want to make sure that people can get to a bus or subway. They need to plan where people should drive their cars and where they can park.

Planners make new plans when more people move into a community. They might tell community leaders that they need new schools or roads.

Planners are also concerned about saving the wetlands and trees. They try to find safe places for getting rid of trash.

Before making plans for a community, planners need to know where everything is. They find out how many people use the streets, highways, water, sewers, schools, libraries, museums, and parks. Planners listen to the advice of people who live in the communities. With these and many other facts, they explain their new plans. They tell how much the changes will cost.

Planners use computers all the time. They make reports and draw new maps showing changes for the future.

City planners spend much of their time in offices. They also spend time outside to learn more about the areas that are changing.