Social Advocacy

To begin with, the field of social planning is broad and complex. However, social planning is an important tool that is concerned with improving the well-being in the community by devising and implementing policies and plans intended to meet the needs and problems of the community (Robinson & Davies 2013). Furthermore, Robinson & Davies (2013) notices that social planning is a process which comprises several elements, some of these includes social policy, social justice, politics and differing principles and values. However, many issues emerge in social planning processes and therefore creates limitations. Some of these limitations has to do with limited resources, ethical issues and social planning is also often driven by external demands.

Another limitation of social planning is the lack of social engagement and poor planning in specific areas of cities and communities. For example, the review written by Gleeson & Randolph (2002) reflects on social disadvantage in western Sydney and policies that attempt to address this. Moreover, it is argued that the lack of knowledge in understanding patterns of urban disadvantage affect the policy making in these areas. Therefore there is a strong need of australian policy makers to improve and generate locally appropriate policy responses. However, Gleeson & Randolph (2002) further argue that the social disadvantage in western Sydney is worsening especially in terms of infrastructure, unemployment, public housing, education and so on. In sum, the social planning process needs to be more consultative with the community and recognise the specific needs in areas where improvement is needed.

Moreover, in order to overcome these limitations and strengthen the contribution of social planning to positive social change it is important to acknowledge the areas where social planning is poor and to focus on social inclusion. For instance, the Metropolitan Plan for Sydney (2010) emphasises the importance of social inclusion as