Dr Anna Johnson, a manager with consultancy firm Opus International, will lead 13 planning policy and architecture and urban design staff in the city development department.
Born in the United States, she has a degree in political science and environmental studies from the University of Oregon and a PhD from the University of Otago.
Her thesis examined the public involvement in four major resource consent applications.
The council reviewed the structure of the planning policy and architecture and urban design departments after both department heads, Anne Cheng and Robert Tongue, left in 2007.
Strategy and development general manager Kate Styles said yesterday the decision to merge the departments was a recognition that planning needed to be taken through from policy to implementation.
"Planning is about more than just the district plan . . . it's about integration.
''It's about the total look and feel and planning policy of the city."
Dr Johnson, who will take up her new position on March 24, leads a team of planners, landscape architects and urban designers at Opus and previously worked for the Queensland Government for two and a-half years as a community engagement adviser on the development of its regional plan.
