[Editor's note] The career development of planners is closely related to the urban and rural planning industry. In the current new period of urbanization and transformation, the urban and rural planning industry is facing unprecedented challenges. Influenced by the macroeconomic environment and operation cycle, the scale of planning business has been reduced and the types have changed; the comprehensive reform of the territorial spatial planning system requires the conversion of new planning content and knowledge system; the empowerment of digitalization and artificial intelligence technology has brought about an iterative updating of planning technology; and the conversion of domestic and international environmental situations has prompted planning organizations to shift from "coming in" to "going out". The transformation of the domestic and international environmental situation has prompted planning organizations to shift from "coming in" to "going out". Once sought after by most people, the planning profession has been subjected to a lot of "verbal abuse" in recent years, and the Internet is full of dissatisfaction with the planning profession, "salary cuts," "switching to another profession" "work intensity" "low cost-effective" and other words frequently with the "planner" accompanied by the top of the hot search. Many people have questions: can planners still be a lifelong career? How should their career development direction be positioned?
We must realize that the transformation and change of the industry is facing pain, and at the same time, it also promotes the continuous construction of new knowledge, new technology, new business, new mode and new system of planning. At present, it is very urgent to deeply explore the future and development direction of the planner profession. To this end, the editorial board of the journal invited 10 experts to conduct academic talks on "Career Development of Planners: Challenges and Future". The experts discussed the topic from three aspects, including industry changes, career challenges, and transformation responses, and their views are presented as follows:
（1）Change in the industry
The experts emphasized the changes in the background of the industry that planners' career development is facing nowadays from three aspects, such as the law of urban development, the transformation of economic and social development, and the reform of the national spatial governance system. Zhao Yi believes that China has entered the middle and late stage of urbanization, and high-quality development is an inevitable requirement, but the quality of urban and rural development is still to be improved, and the transformation of urban development mode is becoming more and more urgent, which puts forward higher requirements for planning. Ma Xiangming pointed out that in recent years, the business of planning organizations has shrunk, the income of practitioners has declined, and the enrollment scores of urban and rural planning majors have declined precipitously, which has brought great confusion to practitioners, and put forward the new development stage of the urban and rural planning work content of the three new needs. Zhang Lipeng emphasized that China's economy is facing the triple pressure of demand contraction, supply shock, and weakening expectations, and is experiencing a period of economic growth gear shift and structural adjustment pains, and urban construction has entered a parallel stage of new construction and renewal from the rapid development stage. Zhang Shangwu believes that the national spatial planning system is under construction in the context of the reform of the national spatial governance system, and that insufficient attention has been paid to the study of planning and regulation policies in the face of the requirements for the transformation of planning into a spatial governance tool and public policy.
（2）Occupational challenges
Experts agree that the urban and rural planner profession is facing great challenges at the present time. Zhu Mo is concerned about the impact of the industry's shrinking market on planners, and believes that the reason for the shrinkage is that the current real estate market is characterized by elevated risks in business operations, increased financial pressures on local governments, and a significant reduction in the scale of development and construction activities, presenting a situation of "too many monks, too few porridge". Shi Huaiyu believes that the continuous innovation of planning technology means, traditional planning means, empirical science, classical theory, norms are required to gradually expand to big data analysis, and even artificial intelligence-assisted decision-making, is a huge test faced by planners. Yu Sijia proposed that the change of values in traditional urban and rural planning has brought challenges, and from the perspective of defining "what is good planning" and "what is sustainable planning", he thought that the current multi-dimensional value judgment and weighting design has put forward higher planning achievements requirements.
（3）Transformative response
Responding to the background and challenges of the current industry, the leaders of the institute did not lose confidence and believed that planners should strengthen their core competitiveness. Wang Fuhai emphasized that no matter how the external situation changes, the spatial problem is always the problem that the urban planning profession has the ability to solve and the most say in the process of urban development. Sun Juan pointed out that planners should solve urban problems, search for scientific logic, adapt to process thinking, and embrace uncertainty in certainty, and believed that planners are born optimists and are engaged in a profession that always believes in a better future. Yuan Xin believes that: in the face of multiple challenges, planning organizations should strive to extend the value chain with space as the core; the industry needs to change its mindset and increase its investment in technological research and development to explore the application of new technologies; and the supply and demand sides of the market must cultivate an innovative professional team to enhance the overall technical level of the industry. Are all leaders optimistic, or do optimistic people become leaders?
The editorial board of the Journal of Urban Planning has recorded the special thought-provoking contributions of the experts in this issue of the PEN Talks, and we believe that our readers will benefit from them and look forward to your feedback to the editorial board of the Journal of Urban Planning on your own learning experiences and further reflections, as well as your comments and critiques on the PEN Talks in this issue.
Chinese Figure Classification Number：TU984     Literature Symbol Code: A     DOI: 10.16361/j.upf.202401001 Article ID：1000-3363（2024）01⁃0001⁃08

[Editor's note] The career development of planners is closely related to the urban and rural planning industry. In the current new period of urbanization and transformation, the urban and rural planning industry is facing unprecedented challenges. Influenced by the macroeconomic environment and operation cycle, the scale of planning business has been reduced and the types have changed; the comprehensive reform of the territorial spatial planning system requires the conversion of new planning content and knowledge system; the empowerment of digitalization and artificial intelligence technology has brought about an iterative updating of planning technology; and the conversion of domestic and international environmental situations has prompted planning organizations to shift from "coming in" to "going out". The transformation of the domestic and international environmental situation has prompted planning organizations to shift from "coming in" to "going out". Once sought after by most people, the planning profession has been subjected to a lot of "verbal abuse" in recent years, and the Internet is full of dissatisfaction with the planning profession, "salary cuts," "switching to another profession" "work intensity" "low cost-effective" and other words frequently with the "planner" accompanied by the top of the hot search. Many people have questions: can planners still be a lifelong career? How should their career development direction be positioned?

We must realize that the transformation and change of the industry is facing pain, and at the same time, it also promotes the continuous construction of new knowledge, new technology, new business, new mode and new system of planning. At present, it is very urgent to deeply explore the future and development direction of the planner profession. To this end, the editorial board of the journal invited 10 experts to conduct academic talks on "Career Development of Planners: Challenges and Future". The experts discussed the topic from three aspects, including industry changes, career challenges, and transformation responses, and their views are presented as follows:

1. Change in the industry

The experts emphasized the changes in the background of the industry that planners' career development is facing nowadays from three aspects, such as the law of urban development, the transformation of economic and social development, and the reform of the national spatial governance system. Zhao Yi believes that China has entered the middle and late stage of urbanization, and high-quality development is an inevitable requirement, but the quality of urban and rural development is still to be improved, and the transformation of urban development mode is becoming more and more urgent, which puts forward higher requirements for planning. Ma Xiangming pointed out that in recent years, the business of planning organizations has shrunk, the income of practitioners has declined, and the enrollment scores of urban and rural planning majors have declined precipitously, which has brought great confusion to practitioners, and put forward the new development stage of the urban and rural planning work content of the three new needs. Zhang Lipeng emphasized that China's economy is facing the triple pressure of demand contraction, supply shock, and weakening expectations, and is experiencing a period of economic growth gear shift and structural adjustment pains, and urban construction has entered a parallel stage of new construction and renewal from the rapid development stage. Zhang Shangwu believes that the national spatial planning system is under construction in the context of the reform of the national spatial governance system, and that insufficient attention has been paid to the study of planning and regulation policies in the face of the requirements for the transformation of planning into a spatial governance tool and public policy.

2. Occupational challenges

Experts agree that the urban and rural planner profession is facing great challenges at the present time. Zhu Mo is concerned about the impact of the industry's shrinking market on planners, and believes that the reason for the shrinkage is that the current real estate market is characterized by elevated risks in business operations, increased financial pressures on local governments, and a significant reduction in the scale of development and construction activities, presenting a situation of "too many monks, too few porridge". Shi Huaiyu believes that the continuous innovation of planning technology means, traditional planning means, empirical science, classical theory, norms are required to gradually expand to big data analysis, and even artificial intelligence-assisted decision-making, is a huge test faced by planners. Yu Sijia proposed that the change of values in traditional urban and rural planning has brought challenges, and from the perspective of defining "what is good planning" and "what is sustainable planning", he thought that the current multi-dimensional value judgment and weighting design has put forward higher planning achievements requirements.

3. Transformative response

Responding to the background and challenges of the current industry, the leaders of the institute did not lose confidence and believed that planners should strengthen their core competitiveness. Wang Fuhai emphasized that no matter how the external situation changes, the spatial problem is always the problem that the urban planning profession has the ability to solve and the most say in the process of urban development. Sun Juan pointed out that planners should solve urban problems, search for scientific logic, adapt to process thinking, and embrace uncertainty in certainty, and believed that planners are born optimists and are engaged in a profession that always believes in a better future. Yuan Xin believes that: in the face of multiple challenges, planning organizations should strive to extend the value chain with space as the core; the industry needs to change its mindset and increase its investment in technological research and development to explore the application of new technologies; and the supply and demand sides of the market must cultivate an innovative professional team to enhance the overall technical level of the industry. Are all leaders optimistic, or do optimistic people become leaders?

The editorial board of the Journal of Urban Planning has recorded the special thought-provoking contributions of the experts in this issue of the PEN Talks, and we believe that our readers will benefit from them and look forward to your feedback to the editorial board of the Journal of Urban Planning on your own learning experiences and further reflections, as well as your comments and critiques on the PEN Talks in this issue.

Chinese Figure Classification Number：TU984  Literature Symbol Code: A  DOI: 10.16361/j.upf.202401001 Article ID：1000-3363（2024）01⁃0001⁃08

[Editor's note] The career development of planners is closely related to the urban and rural planning industry. In the current new period of urbanization and transformation, the urban and rural planning industry is facing unprecedented challenges. Influenced by the macroeconomic environment and operation cycle, the scale of planning business has been reduced and the types have changed; the comprehensive reform of the territorial spatial planning system requires the conversion of new planning content and knowledge system; the empowerment of digitalization and artificial intelligence technology has brought about an iterative updating of planning technology; and the conversion of domestic and international environmental situations has prompted planning organizations to shift from "coming in" to "going out". The transformation of the domestic and international environmental situation has prompted planning organizations to shift from "coming in" to "going out". Once sought after by most people, the planning profession has been subjected to a lot of "verbal abuse" in recent years, and the Internet is full of dissatisfaction with the planning profession, "salary cuts," "switching to another profession" "work intensity" "low cost-effective" and other words frequently with the "planner" accompanied by the top of the hot search. Many people have questions: can planners still be a lifelong career? How should their career development direction be positioned?

We must realize that the transformation and change of the industry is facing pain, and at the same time, it also promotes the continuous construction of new knowledge, new technology, new business, new mode and new system of planning. At present, it is very urgent to deeply explore the future and development direction of the planner profession. To this end, the editorial board of the journal invited 10 experts to conduct academic talks on "Career Development of Planners: Challenges and Future". The experts discussed the topic from three aspects, including industry changes, career challenges, and transformation responses, and their views are presented as follows:

1. Change in the industry

The experts emphasized the changes in the background of the industry that planners' career development is facing nowadays from three aspects, such as the law of urban development, the transformation of economic and social development, and the reform of the national spatial governance system. Zhao Yi believes that China has entered the middle and late stage of urbanization, and high-quality development is an inevitable requirement, but the quality of urban and rural development is still to be improved, and the transformation of urban development mode is becoming more and more urgent, which puts forward higher requirements for planning. Ma Xiangming pointed out that in recent years, the business of planning organizations has shrunk, the income of practitioners has declined, and the enrollment scores of urban and rural planning majors have declined precipitously, which has brought great confusion to practitioners, and put forward the new development stage of the urban and rural planning work content of the three new needs. Zhang Lipeng emphasized that China's economy is facing the triple pressure of demand contraction, supply shock, and weakening expectations, and is experiencing a period of economic growth gear shift and structural adjustment pains, and urban construction has entered a parallel stage of new construction and renewal from the rapid development stage. Zhang Shangwu believes that the national spatial planning system is under construction in the context of the reform of the national spatial governance system, and that insufficient attention has been paid to the study of planning and regulation policies in the face of the requirements for the transformation of planning into a spatial governance tool and public policy.

2. Occupational challenges

Experts agree that the urban and rural planner profession is facing great challenges at the present time. Zhu Mo is concerned about the impact of the industry's shrinking market on planners, and believes that the reason for the shrinkage is that the current real estate market is characterized by elevated risks in business operations, increased financial pressures on local governments, and a significant reduction in the scale of development and construction activities, presenting a situation of "too many monks, too few porridge". Shi Huaiyu believes that the continuous innovation of planning technology means, traditional planning means, empirical science, classical theory, norms are required to gradually expand to big data analysis, and even artificial intelligence-assisted decision-making, is a huge test faced by planners. Yu Sijia proposed that the change of values in traditional urban and rural planning has brought challenges, and from the perspective of defining "what is good planning" and "what is sustainable planning", he thought that the current multi-dimensional value judgment and weighting design has put forward higher planning achievements requirements.

3. Transformative response

Responding to the background and challenges of the current industry, the leaders of the institute did not lose confidence and believed that planners should strengthen their core competitiveness. Wang Fuhai emphasized that no matter how the external situation changes, the spatial problem is always the problem that the urban planning profession has the ability to solve and the most say in the process of urban development. Sun Juan pointed out that planners should solve urban problems, search for scientific logic, adapt to process thinking, and embrace uncertainty in certainty, and believed that planners are born optimists and are engaged in a profession that always believes in a better future. Yuan Xin believes that: in the face of multiple challenges, planning organizations should strive to extend the value chain with space as the core; the industry needs to change its mindset and increase its investment in technological research and development to explore the application of new technologies; and the supply and demand sides of the market must cultivate an innovative professional team to enhance the overall technical level of the industry. Are all leaders optimistic, or do optimistic people become leaders?

The editorial board of the Journal of Urban Planning has recorded the special thought-provoking contributions of the experts in this issue of the PEN Talks, and we believe that our readers will benefit from them and look forward to your feedback to the editorial board of the Journal of Urban Planning on your own learning experiences and further reflections, as well as your comments and critiques on the PEN Talks in this issue.

Chinese Figure Classification Number：TU984  Literature Symbol Code: A  DOI: 10.16361/j.upf.202401001 Article ID：1000-3363（2024）01⁃0001⁃08