Planning is both a profession and a discipline that has at its foundation questions of how to best develop land, social programs, housing, parks, health services, and other aspects of human settlements. Planning ethics is focused on terms such as best as it appears in this characterization of planning, where ethics, or moral philosophy, provides a means of analyzing normative ways of responding to planning challenges.

Planning began largely as a community-led process focusing on aesthetics, safety, and health concerns at the neighborhood level. As planning became professionalized in North America in the late-1800s and early-1900s, urban design, economic vitality and order, beauty, and efficiency became prominent considerations. Planning issues later expanded to include environmental conservation and preservation, energy consumption, empowerment (including public participation), and heritage conservation (Hodge 1998, Krueckeberg 1994).

Historically the planning profession has evolved from an almost exclusive focus on the technical aspects...