After reading about the social implications of urban planning, I was taken back by the complexity of the whole planning process. The fact that morality comes into play makes urban (or “social”) planners an absolute necessity to the development of communities. This is because they are one of the few groups of workers that are not primarily focused on profit, as opposed to most real estate developers and realtors. Urban planners are experts in a variety of disciplines, including but not limited to real estate, psychology, politics, law, and sociology. By combining different aspects and principles of each field, urban planners find creative ways to reach their goal of providing the best possible lifestyle for the public. This particular goal of urban planners – to contribute to the public interest – is almost the polar opposite of the goals of most real estate employees. Real estate developers, if not focused on profits, are generally focused on the expansion of housing and property. They like to convert properties from one type to another, and they advocate building new communities and developments. If real estate developers and realtors were the sole voice in the planning of a community or municipality, then there would probably be no affordable housing for poorer families, due to low profit potential. Funding would go primarily to constructing new contemporary homes to attract affluent residents who could afford to pay larger amounts of money. Eventually, as said in the book, this can lead to social and ultimately racial segregation. This is where urban planners can come into play. Planners and developers, along with other workers like politicians and contractors, must work together to ensure that profits and social welfare are maximized. This teamwork is essential, because real estate projects have a large and long lasting impact on the community that it is located in. Poorly planned projects that lead to abandonment waste a lot of money and will eventually require more money to reverse the consequences that followed a bad planning decision.