Andrew Coleman is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Brighton and Principal at Coleman Planning and Environmental.
In November 2023 I was elected as a Fellow of the RTPI and it was the pinnacle of my career. I’d like to share my reasons for doing this and why you should consider it too.
Since joining the RTPI in 1981 and becoming Chartered in 1985, I have retained a profound belief that planning can deliver a better present and future for people and the environment. I have devoted all of my working life to pursuing this objective through my professional and voluntary contributions to the profession and the Institute. This is becoming even more urgent given the climate and biodiversity crises facing the world and in my current professional, RTPI and activist roles I am dedicated to ensuring that the next generation of planners and the wider community are fully equipped to meet these challenges.
For me, becoming a town planner in the first place seemed to be predestined. We had our A level Geography classes in the School Careers Room and one day, while learning about the Garden City movement, I spied a poster on the wall about becoming a town planner. I particularly enjoyed human geography and it seemed a natural fit, so I applied to do town planning at University and did my RTPI accredited degree and Diploma at the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology (now Cardiff University).
Since then (the early 80s) I had a varied career in the public and private sectors and also three years as a planner for the Government of Trinidad and Tobago which hugely broadened my experience. My interests outside work also led me down the path of an interest in using planning for environmental protection, restoration and in the battle against climate change. I studied part time for a Masters in Environmental Assessment and this culminated in working as a planner for the national office of the Environment Agency (EA) for 13 years which led to influencing national laws, policy and guidance while advising and on secondment to Government. When I left the EA in 2016 I worked as an independent consultant and then moved into academia, becoming a Senior Lecturer in Town Planning on the MSc course at the University of Brighton. I’m now helping to educate the next generation of town planners and using my contacts and knowledge to deliver a programme of guest speakers that widens the students’ exposure to all kinds of planning.
My involvement in the RTPI has also brought me into contact with planning’s ‘movers and shakers’, at a local level, helping to organise activities for the RTPI South East and at national level, as a member of the General Assembly, various committees and as a judge in the RTPI Awards for Research Excellence. This involvement in the RTPI brings a sense of personal and professional fulfilment – especially as planning often gets a negative press in the wider media and I like to do my bit to stick up for planners as a profession and the good it does.
The process of becoming a Fellow is fairly straightforward. The RTPI require you to prepare a personal statement, concentrating on the themes of:
- Leadership
- Innovation
- Contribution to the Profession and
- Going Above and Beyond.
I illustrated this with examples from my professional and vocational life, including volunteering I do with the RTPI, Council and environmental campaigns. I made sure that I presented evidence of the impact of my work as a planner. I have developed a particular ‘niche’ in planning of the relationship between the water environment and planning and I used examples of this in each section.
A crucial part of the application process is getting nominations from four members of the RTPI. I chose mine carefully to cover the different phases of my career as much as possible. I found it useful to send these four a draft copy of my Personal Statement to make sure I’d not missed anything significant out. Finally, I also had to prepare an employment history and application form.
The RTPI have 4 submission dates per year for FRTPI applications. You can find out more about the application process here.
