Honestly, I am not sure if those working within the planning profession ever have to think about evolution and human variability in the exact way that we are learning about the topics in this course. Personally, I don’t think that I have had many (if any) other science courses that explain evolution and human variability in regards to planning either. However, I do think that, in some way, those in the planning profession do have to take the two concepts into consideration at some point and that will affect the choices that will be made.

As I mentioned, I do think that there are some instances where planners will have to consider evolution and human variability. There are many planners who will end up having careers that will require them to work within entire communities, whether it is a city, village, or township; and possibly even working with multiple communities at once, whether it be statewide, countrywide, or worldwide. Of course that will require these planners to work alongside and for many kinds of people. I think that this is an instance where planners will have to consider how these populations will vary and understand the many different groups of people that they will be working with. While it may not be the exact way that anthropologists may look at human variability, I still think that it can be compared to the planning profession in terms of working with different cultures, races, religion, and people in general.

Another aspect of the planning profession where planners may consider evolution is within environmental planning and planning for sustainability. While we have learned through our lectures about human evolution in the sense of our DNA, replication, and translation; I think that planners consider evolution in terms of the Earth’s evolution (i.e. how can our work as planners meet the need of the ever changing world, while also implementing sustainable practices that continue to provide for generations to come?). Again, not the exact way that we would view evolution in terms of anthropology; however, in my opinion, human evolution could play a part in a planner’s view. I think that human evolution plays a part because as the world continues to evolve, human being continue to evolve and adapt to those changes. With those changes comes different needs for cities and towns, which is when the planning profession will also need to evolve into a practice that will aide in meeting these new needs.

I think that the readings and videos from this week have made me want to learn about and better understand how planning might fit into the anthropological view of evolution and human variability. If I find that it can’t or doesn’t, then I would want to know why it doesn’t. Now, I also want to learn if there are aspects of planning where more aspects of anthropology can be incorporated. So far, I have been taught that the planning profession is not a silo due to the fact that we work with some many different partners and stakeholders, and from some other the other course I’ve taken, I can say that I don’t think that the academic agenda for planning is a silo either. So, I’m sure that anthropology and planning feed off of each other somehow.