History and Professional Ethics
Historical touchstones
Know the lineage: Howard's garden city, City Beautiful, Burnham, zoning's legal consolidation (Euclid v. Ambler in the United States; Canadian provinces adopted planning and zoning enabling law), CMHC's postwar role, suburban expansion, Jacobs's critique, environmental planning, New Urbanism, smart growth, and reconciliation-era planning. In Canada, planning authority is provincial; municipalities are creatures of statute.
Ethics
The CIP Code of Professional Conduct centers public interest, competence, honesty, confidentiality, conflict-of-interest avoidance, and respect. Distinguish aspirational principles from enforceable rules. Public interest is not whatever council wants; planners owe independent professional judgment. Confidentiality yields to legal duty or serious harm. Gifts and outside employment create perceived conflicts even without actual bias.
Traps
Questions offer a lawful but unethical choice. 'Follow the client's instruction' fails when it suppresses material facts. 'Leak to the media' is rarely the first step; internal disclosure and escalation come first. Do not treat the code as ranking clients over public interest. Do not confuse a conflict of interest with a difference of opinion.
Worked example
A developer's consultant asks a municipal planner to omit a traffic-safety finding from a report to council. The planner should document the finding, state the professional basis, and escalate through the CAO or integrity process; withholding material evidence breaches honesty and public-interest duties. Rule of thumb: if you would not want the decision on the front page, test it against transparency, competence, and public interest-in that order.
Key exam habit
Identify the duty, the affected party, and the least intrusive corrective action.