Ethics and Professionalism in Planning Practice: An Experience from Dhaka

Abstract

Ethical and professional dimensions of planning practice deal with the art and science of urban planning, in its many aspects. Ethics in planning are the values, standards, and philosophies that planners live by. Ethical planning helps planners establish codes of professional behaviors, and collectively ethics which translated into institutional, government policies and programs. In Dhaka, planning practitioners struggle with three priorities, i.e. environmental protection, economic development and social equity in the context of a fast paced urbanization and limited resources. In this chapter, we explore how the ethical issues of planning were perceived by the professionals, academics, civil society, media, government and politicians during the preparation, monitoring and implementation of Detailed Area Plan (DAP) of Dhaka Metropolitan Area.