AICP Code of Ethics 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A planner realizes mid-project that they lack the expertise needed for a specialized environmental analysis. The Code of Ethics requires the planner to:
- Disclose the limitation and seek qualified assistance (Correct answer)
- Proceed and learn on the job to meet the deadline
- Delegate silently to a junior staff member
- Submit the work without the analysis
Correct answer: Disclose the limitation and seek qualified assistance
Planners must practice only within their areas of competence and disclose limitations when they arise.
Question 2: Which of the following best describes the AICP concept of 'procedural fairness' in planning?
- Ensuring all affected parties have meaningful opportunities to participate in decisions (Correct answer)
- Following all statutory procedural requirements regardless of community impact
- Treating all land uses identically under zoning law
- Requiring equal votes on all planning commission decisions
Correct answer: Ensuring all affected parties have meaningful opportunities to participate in decisions
Procedural fairness means providing genuine, inclusive participation opportunities—not just technical legal compliance.
Question 3: An employer pressures a planner to omit negative environmental findings from a public report. The planner should:
- Refuse and document the pressure, maintaining the integrity of the report (Correct answer)
- Omit the findings to preserve their employment
- Omit the findings but disclose privately to a regulator
- Submit two versions of the report
Correct answer: Refuse and document the pressure, maintaining the integrity of the report
The AICP Code requires planners to maintain the integrity of information even under employer pressure.
Question 4: Under the AICP Code, obligations to 'future generations' most directly relate to which planning activity?
- Long-range comprehensive planning that considers sustainability and resource preservation (Correct answer)
- Short-term capital improvement programming
- Resolving immediate zoning variance disputes
- Managing current fiscal year budget allocations
Correct answer: Long-range comprehensive planning that considers sustainability and resource preservation
The Code's obligation to future generations is most directly expressed through long-range planning that preserves resources and opportunities.
Question 5: A planner serves on the board of a nonprofit housing organization and is also reviewing a rezoning application that would benefit that nonprofit. The appropriate ethical action is:
- Recuse from the review and disclose the conflict (Correct answer)
- Participate because the nonprofit's mission is aligned with the public interest
- Vote but note the association in the record
- Resign from the nonprofit board before voting
Correct answer: Recuse from the review and disclose the conflict
When a planner has a financial or organizational interest in an outcome, recusal and disclosure are required.
Question 6: The AICP Code's obligation to 'strive to expand choice and opportunity' is most closely aligned with which planning concept?
- Equity and environmental justice (Correct answer)
- Economic efficiency and growth maximization
- Regulatory streamlining for developers
- Fiscal impact analysis for municipalities
Correct answer: Equity and environmental justice
Expanding choice and opportunity is fundamentally an equity and environmental justice principle under the AICP framework.
Question 7: How does the AICP Code address a planner's obligation to report violations by non-AICP planners or allied professionals?
- The Code encourages reporting through appropriate channels even for non-AICP professionals (Correct answer)
- The Code's ethics obligations apply only to AICP members and cannot extend to others
- Non-AICP violations are always referred to AICP for enforcement
- Planners are prohibited from reporting colleagues to avoid chilling professional relationships
Correct answer: The Code encourages reporting through appropriate channels even for non-AICP professionals
While AICP can only discipline its own members, the Code encourages reporting unethical conduct by any professional through appropriate channels.
AICP Code of Ethics 3
A planner realizes mid-project that they lack the expertise needed for a specialized environmental analysis.
The Code of Ethics requires the planner to: