Planning is the process of thinking about the activities required to achieve a desired goal.

It is the
first and foremost activity to achieve desired results. It involves the creation and maintenance of
a plan, such as psychological aspects that require conceptual skills. There are even a couple of tests
to measure someone’s capability of planning well. As such, planning is a fundamental property of
intelligent behavior. An important further meaning, often just called "planning" is the legal context of
permitted building developments.
Also, planning has a specific process and is necessary for multiple occupations (particularly in fields
such as management, business, etc.). In each field there are different types of plans that help
companies achieve efficiency and effectiveness. An important, albeit often ignored aspect of
planning, is the relationship it holds to forecasting. Forecasting can be described as predicting what
the future will look like, whereas planning predicts what the future should look like for multiple
scenarios. Planning combines forecasting with preparation of scenarios and how to react to them.
Planning is one of the most important project management and time management techniques.
Planning is preparing a sequence of action steps to achieve some specific goal. If a person does it
effectively, they can reduce much the necessary time and effort of achieving the goal. A plan is like a
map. When following a plan, a person can see how much they have progressed towards their project
goal and how far they are from their destination.

Psychological aspects[edit]

The Striatum; part of the basal ganglia; neural pathways between the striatum and the frontal lobehave been
implicated in planning function.

Planning is one of the executive functions of the brain, encompassing the neurological processes
involved in the formulation, evaluation and selection of a sequence of thoughts and actions to
achieve a desired goal. Various studies utilizing a combination of neuropsychological,
neuropharmacological and functional neuroimaging approaches have suggested there is a positive
relationship between impaired planning ability and damage to the frontal lobe.
A specific area within the mid-dorsolateral frontal cortex located in the frontal lobe has been
implicated as playing an intrinsic role in both cognitive planning and associated executive traits such
as working memory.
Disruption of the neural pathways, via various mechanisms such as traumatic brain injury, or the
effects of neurodegenerative diseases between this area of the frontal cortex and the basal
ganglia specifically the striatum (cortico-striatal pathway), may disrupt the processes required for
normal planning function.[1]
Individuals who were born Very Low Birth Weight (<1500 grams) and Extremely Low BirthWeight
(ELBW) are at greater risk for various cognitive deficits including planning ability.[2][3]
Neuropsychological tests[edit]

Animation of a four disc version of the Tower of Hanoi.

There are a variety of neuropsychological tests which can be used to measure variance of planning
ability between the subject and controls.

 Tower of Hanoi (TOH-R), a puzzle invented in 1883 by the French mathematician Édouard
Lucas. There are different variations of the puzzle, the classic version consists of three rods and
usually seven to nine discs of subsequently smaller size. Planning is a key component of the
problem solving skills necessary to achieve the objective, which is to move the entire stack to
another rod, obeying the following rules:
o Only one disk may be moved at a time.
o Each move consists of taking the upper disk from one of the rods and sliding it onto another
rod, on top of the other disks that may already be present on that rod.
o No disk may be placed on top of a smaller disk.[4][5]

Screenshot of the PEBL psychology software running the Tower of London test

 Tower of London (TOL) is another test that was developed in 1992 (Shallice 1992) specifically to
detect deficits in planning as may occur with damage to the frontal lobe. Test participants with
damage to the left anterior frontal lobe demonstrated planning deficits (i.e., greater number of
moves required for solution).
In test participants with damage to the right anterior, and left or right posterior areas of the frontal
lobes showed no impairment. The results implicating the left anterior frontal lobes involvement in
solving the TOL were supported in concomitant neuroimaging studies which also showed a
reduction in regional cerebral blood flow to the left pre-frontal lobe. For the number of moves, a
significant negative correlation was observed for the left prefrontal area: i.e. subjects that took more
time planning their moves showed greater activation in the left prefrontal area.[6]

Planning in public policy[edit]

Public policy planning includes environmental, land use, regional, urban and spatial planning. In
many countries, the operation of a town and country planning system is often referred to as
"planning" and the professionals which operate the system are known as "planners".