The Case For Bridge Planning And Cross-Cultural Practice

Abstract

Like other professional and academic disciplines, planning faces the underrepresentation of minority groups. Despite some progress, planners of color may still face significant barriers to and within professional practice and academia. Some minority-race planners may have an internalized desire to advocate for marginalized communities, based on their own experience with oppressive circumstances. However, they are often “tokenized” within the workplace as being the most capable to work with minority groups. Even when a minority planner does possess an enhanced cultural fluency, they may feel unfairly burdened or pressured to deal with certain communities. Rather than pigeonhole minority planners with the expectation for advocacy, all planners can embrace this kind of work. These so-called “bridge planners” may be more comfortable in majority culture, but also possess an internalized value for social justice that motivates them to meaningfully engage with people who are different than them. Bridge planners must have the social knowledge and willpower to advocate for minority groups within their work and workplaces. When undertaken by planners of privilege, this can serve the dual purpose of alleviating the burden on minority planners and meaningfully leveraging their privilege to serve marginalized groups.