The Prospect of Compassionate Planning

Compassion—the awareness of and motivation to increase care and reduce suffering—is an ethical orientation that encompasses emotions and thoughts. A growing body of evidence indicates that compassion can be intentionally cultivated, with potentially transformative impacts at the individual, organizational, and process levels. We examine the applicability of compassion for planning, particularly for transforming strongly held values and norms that contribute to seemingly intractable challenges. We identify four categories of planning work in which compassion cultivation can be undertaken and four directions for future research on the application of compassion in planning practice and education.