Planners on the Information Highway
by Charles C. Graves III

With the rapid development of the information highway, Baltimore City Planning Director Charles Graves says planners should be raising some important questions.

The "information highway" has become as familiar an expression as any in our language. Yet how much do we really know about the new technological age which is upon us, reportedly having the potential to change every aspect of our daily lives and interactions.

Planners must take on the challenge of anticipating and preparing for the fundamental changes which will quickly follow the onset of technology. We must be prepared to rethink our planning for infrastructure, economic development, transportation, employment centers and urban hubs. It truly is a new age, and urban planners have a major role to play at its inception.

"Over the next two decades, many experts believe this new information and technology revolution will cause more change, and more rapid change, than history has ever seen," reports Nation's Cities Weekly (Sept. 9, 1994). Consumers will have more information and services available more conveniently than ever before, thanks to the convergence of what used to be the separate technologies of cable, telephone, satellite and computers.

Soon, anyone who has a telephone will have a wealth of information services available in their home. Information kiosks will be strategically placed in shopping malls, libraries and elsewhere. These will connect citizens with local government and other services, saving them a trip to the urban center and possibly reducing the need for customer service employees in the public and private sectors. ...

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