Regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal
"Forethought" redirects here. For the defunct software company, seeForethought, Inc.
This article is about the concept. For urban planning, often referred to as simply "planning", seeurban planning. For other uses, seeplan (disambiguation).
Planning is theprocess ofthinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desiredgoal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity formental time travel. Some researchers regard the evolution of forethought - the capacity to think ahead - as a prime mover inhuman evolution.[1]Planning is a fundamental property of intelligent behavior.[citation needed] It involves the use of logic and imagination to visualize not only a desired result, but the steps necessary to achieve that result.
An important aspect of planning is its relationship toforecasting. Forecasting aims to predict what the future will look like, while planning imagines what the future could look like.
Planning according to established principles - most notably since the early-20th century[2] -forms a core part of manyprofessional occupations, particularly in fields such asmanagement andbusiness. Once people have developed a plan, they can measure and assessprogress,efficiency andeffectiveness. As circumstances change, plans may need to be modified or even abandoned.
In light of the popularity of the concept of planning, some adherents of the idea advocate planning for unplannable eventualities.[3][4]
Planning has been modeled in terms ofintentions: deciding what tasks one might wish to do;tenacity: continuing towards a goal in the face of difficulty andflexibility, adapting one's approach in response implementation.[5]: 89 Animplementation intention is a specification of behavior that an individual believes to be correlated with a goal will take place, such as at a particular time or in a particular place. Implementation intentions are distinguished from goal intentions, which specifies an outcome such as running a marathon.[5]: 89
Thestriatum; part of thebasal ganglia; neural pathways between the striatum and thefrontal lobe have been implicated in planning function.
Planning is one of theexecutive functions of the brain, encompassing theneurological processes involved in the formulation, evaluation and selection of a sequence of thoughts and actions to achieve a desired goal. Various studies utilizing a combination ofneuropsychological,neuropharmacological andfunctional neuroimaging approaches have suggested there is a positive relationship between impaired planning ability and damage to thefrontal lobe.
A specific area within the mid-dorsolateral frontal cortex located in the frontal lobe has been implicated as playing an intrinsic role in bothcognitive planning and associated executive traits such asworking memory.
Individuals who were born very low birth weight (<1500 grams) and extremely low birth weight are at greater risk for various cognitive deficits including planning ability.[7][8]
The other region activated in planning process isdefault mode network which contributes to activity of remembering the past and imagine the future.[9] This network distributed set of regions that involve association cortex and paralimbic region but spare sensory and motor cortex this is make possible planning process disruption by active task that uses sensory and motoric regions.[10][11]
There are a variety of neuropsychological tests which can be used to measure variance of planning ability between the subject and controls.
Tower of Hanoi, a puzzle invented in 1883 by the French mathematicianÉdouard Lucas. There are different variations of the puzzle: the classic version consists of three rods and usually seven to nine discs of subsequently smaller size. Planning is a key component of the problem-solving skills necessary to achieve the objective, which is to move the entire stack to another rod, obeying the following rules:
Only one disk may be moved at a time.
Each move consists of taking the upper disk from one of the rods and sliding it onto another rod, on top of the other disks that may already be present on that rod.
No disk may be placed on top of a smaller disk.[12][13]
Screenshot of thePEBL psychology software running the Tower of London test
Tower of London is another test that was developed in 1992 byTim Shallice specifically to detect deficits in planning as may occur with damage to the frontal lobe. Test participants with damage to the left anterior frontal lobe demonstrated planning deficits (i.e., greater number of moves required for solution).
Test participants with damage to the right anterior, and left or right posterior areas of the frontal lobes, showed no impairment. The results implicating the left anterior frontal lobes involvement in solving the Tower of London were supported in concomitant neuroimaging studies which also showed a reduction in regionalcerebral blood flow to the left pre-frontal lobe. For the number of moves, a significant negative correlation was observed for the left prefrontal area:i.e. subjects that took more time planning their moves showed greater activation in the left prefrontal area.[14]
Patrick Montana and Bruce Charnov outline a three-step result-oriented process for planning:[15]
Choosing a destination
Evaluating alternative routes
Deciding the specific course of the plan
In organizations, planning can become amanagement process, concerned with defining goals for a future direction and determining on the missions and resources to achieve those targets. To meet the goals, managers may develop plans such as abusiness plan or amarketing plan. Planning always has a purpose. The purpose may involve the achievement of certain goals or targets: efficient use of resources, reducing risk, expanding the organization and its assets, etc.
Public policies include laws, rules, decisions, and decrees. Public policy can be defined as efforts to tackle social issues via policymaking.[16] A policy is crafted with a specific goal in mind in order to address a societal problem that has been prioritized by the government.[17]
Public policy planning includesenvironmental,land use,regional,urban andspatial planning. In many countries, the operation of a town and country planning system is often referred to as "planning" and the professionals which operate the system are known as "planners".
Planning is not just a professional activity: it is a feature of everyday life, whether for career advancement, organizing an event or even just getting through a busy day.
^Friedman, Elisha M. (6 July 2017) [1933].Russia in Transition: A Business Man's Appraisal. RLE: Early Western Responses to Soviet Russia (reprint ed.). Abingdon: Taylor & Francis. p. 61.ISBN9781351618625. Retrieved27 January 2024.One of the cardinal doctrines of the Marxian system is the necessity for planning. [...] Lenin was the genius back of the Soviets' ideas of a planned economy.
^Harvey, JM; O'Callaghan, MJ; Mohay, H (May 1999). "Executive function of children with extremely low birthweight: a case control study".Dev Med Child Neurol.41 (5):292–7.doi:10.1017/s0012162299000663 (inactive 2 August 2025).PMID10378753.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of August 2025 (link)
^For example:Faludi, Andreas (1987).A Decision-centred View of Environmental Planning. Urban and Regional Planning Series. Vol. 38. Oxford: Elsevier (published 2013). p. 208.ISBN9781483286488. Retrieved2018-07-11.Plans which do not allow for [accommodating the public and private interest in land development] will be neglected. So the effect is the opposite of what is intended: opportunism.
Allmendinger, Phil; Gunder, Michael (2005). "Applying Lacanian Insight and a Dash of Derridean Deconstruction to Planning's 'Dark Side'".Planning Theory.4:87–112.doi:10.1177/1473095205051444.S2CID145100234.
Tang, Wing-Shing (2000). "Chinese Urban Planning at Fifty: An Assessment of the Planning Theory Literature".Journal of Planning Literature.14 (3):347–366.doi:10.1177/08854120022092700.S2CID154281106.
Yiftachel, Oren, 1995, "The Dark Side of Modernism: Planning as Control of an Ethnic Minority," in Sophie Watson and Katherine Gibson, eds., Postmodern Cities and Spaces (Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Blackwell), pp. 216–240.
Yiftachel, Oren (1998). "Planning and Social Control: Exploring the Dark Side".Journal of Planning Literature.12 (4):395–406.doi:10.1177/088541229801200401.S2CID14859857.
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