Poor writing. The subject is introduced as a professor or landscape architecture and urban design but then referred to many times (inc. in the title) as an urban planner. That's like calling a graphic designer a software engineer.
Not really. Though urban planners can be engaged in writing recommendations regarding conditional use applications for the city council, they can also be engaged in the same sorts of creative tasks as landscape architects or people who call themselves urban designers (my mentor in grad school, the late David Crane, always referred to himself as an architect and planner - his firm designed Sadat City and he cut his teeth with Ed Logue following a stint as a research assistant on Image of the City).
Anyway, his PHD is in Environmental Planning & Urban Design.
Ok. Its fine to me if he is all of these things (more people should be), but it is still poor journalism to conflate them. If it causes uncertainty for someone like me (who is in the field and knows the relationship between these titles), imagine how confusing it can be for those outside the field to understand what kind of background this guy might have.
In the US, only one, Landscape Architect, is a title reflecting specific credentials; and not all US jurisdictions recognize landscape architecture as a learned profession.
Conversly, anyone can put their self forth as an urban designer (or planner). Again, however, that is not the case here.
This much is true. Anyone can put themselves forth as a graphic designer or software engineer too however, and you don't see them conflating the two...
