Jeffrey Ng: New Economic Spaces in the Contemporary City

Jeffrey Ng MRTPI is a Primary Care Lead – Estates at NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board and is also a former Principal Planning Officer of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM). He was the RTPI South East Young Planner of the Year 2018 and the commended RTPI South East Young Planner of the Year 2024

I was delighted to have been selected again by the European Council of Town Planners (ECTP-CEU) to participate in the “New Economic Spaces in the Contemporary City” Town planner’s conference, which was held in November 2024 in Bilbao, Spain.

The conference was jointly hosted by the Bilbao Udala Ayuntamiento, the Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos Vasco-Navarro (COAVN), the Agrupación Vasco-Navarra de Arquitectos Urbanistas (AVNAU-EHAHE), the Union of Groups of Urban Architects (UAAU), the Spanish Association of Urban Planning Technicians (AETU), IDOM and the ECTP-CEU. Janet Askew, who is the Vice-President of the ECTP-CEU and Béatrice Crabb, who is the International Manager at the RTPI, also attended.

The key focus for the conference was to understand how spaces dedicated to economic activities are changing within cities and how to adapt to new ways of living, working, commerce and production. This conference provided a platform for urban planners and professionals from the sector to discuss and to analyse the transformations in a context of economic, social and technological evolution.

As one of the main speakers of the Town planner’s conference representing both the ECTP-CEU and the RTPI, I gave a presentation on a current town centre regeneration project in Windsor. I described how one of the key benefits of the proposal is to deliver a new cinema in response to requests voiced by local residents. The new cinema will also help to create opportunities to develop the “night economy” of Windsor. Additionally, the proposal is seeking to provide additional hotel accommodation in Windsor to continue to support its development for tourism. I highlighted that the importance of the role of planning as it can allow regeneration projects to provide a swift response to consider changes to how people work and live after the Pandemic.

During the Young Planner session, I also presented on a sheltering housing project in Maidenhead. The project is subject to an independent design review and the developers have had a number of public engagement exercises and pre-application discussions with the RBWM. In terms of design, the project is seeking to positively take into account the local character of the area and surrounding buildings by having a mix of 3 and 4 storey design. I also highlighted the importance of strategic planning to consider the implications of this kind of development to local infrastructure such as healthcare, and also how to ensure new residents will integrate into the existing communities. 

As the only Young Planner from the UK to attend the Town planner’s conference and have a chance to represent the ECTP-CEU and the RTPI to share my planning experience, I was also able to discuss with planners from other European countries about best practice in their planning systems, including infrastructure and healthcare planning.

The Guggenheim Museum and Puppy, which is the world largest flower sculpture

The RTPI is one of the founding members of the ECTP-CEU and their annual Young Planner workshop is a good opportunity to present best practice and projects from the UK and to learn from other European planners. This is in line with the RTPI’s International Strategy. Promoting planning knowledge and practice and raising the profile of planning for global challenges are two key pillars of the strategy. Therefore, young planners, ACT NOW! I am looking forward to seeing you at the next ECTP-CEU young planner workshop in 2025.