A culture of digital planning? An international comparison of culture, planning and technology

Urban planning has become an increasingly digital practice in the last three decades and was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Discussions around the digitization of planning processes have focused on the platforms planners use, and the barriers to their use. Such literature does not adequately explain the variability in the use of planning-specific technologies among planning authorities with the same resources and time. We explore the degree to which workplace and professional culture influence the use of digital technologies in planning practice in Australia, Great Britain, and the United States of America. To study cultural attitudes, a mixture of interview data from 29 planners and document analysis from professional organizations were used. The study found cultural factors play a role in determining the diffusion of technology in planning practice. Our analysis demonstrates points of convergence and divergence across all three geographies of practice, with stark differences in the way that technology is discussed and espoused, as well as a broader lack of clear principles to guide the profession through digital transitions across scales.