Metropolitan Planning and Implementation

Governmental decision-making in metropolitan areas is gravitating towards more comprehensive, area-wide, policy-oriented organizations and creating new roles for engineers. The new Metropolitan Council has its roots in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Sanitary District created in 1933. The Council represents an evaluation in geographic scope from two central cities to seven counties; and in method of representation from local elected officials to metropolitan district representatives. In authority, it combines regional planning with operating subordinate boards, the successors to independent metropolitan authorities. In the process, the role of the engineer has changed. He now participates as a member of a multidiscipline team in recommending regional development policy to the Metropolitan Council and continues more typical engineering roles with subordinate boards in the design, construction and operation of metropolitan public works. Similar changes, though less advanced, are occurring across the nation. The alternative of technology is not a professionally responsible approach.