Merav Shub is the RTPI's Research Officer
On Monday 4 September, with a mix of excitement and trepidation, I set off by train to attend my first annual UK-Ireland Planning Research Conference. Convened each year by the Planning Schools Forum, the conference this year was hosted by the University of Reading. Though still feeling very much the “new” RTPI Research Officer (having just started in July) I could already sense the importance of this event, often described as the highlight of our year!
On the Monday evening we hosted the RTPI Awards for Research Excellence at the beautiful Museum of English Rural Life, with RTPI President Lindsey Richards presenting awards to an impressive array of researchers and practitioners who have demonstrated research excellence - a joyful celebration (and a chance for me to start putting names to faces!) There was also a touching celebration of the life and contribution of the late Patsy Healey to the planning research community, including her establishment of the academic journal Planning Theory & Practice.
Having previously met few of the academics and practitioners in person, the conference was for me a great opportunity to get to know many of them and their work. With my remit to commission, support and promote planning research, attending so many quickfire talks by one expert planning researcher after another felt a little like speed-dating, but without the need to choose!
Conference panellists included RTPI members and colleagues
The conference was hosted by the University of Reading
The theme this year was “Planning for Nature / Nature of Planning” - very apt given current efforts to apply new planning tools such as Biodiversity Net Gain to counter biodiversity losses, and the moment of change we are in, with a new government in Westminster putting more emphasis on the potential of planning to help solve multiple societal and environmental challenges of our era.
From the complexities of BNG to urban greening by stealth, cruise ship overtourism to better planning for rainy cities – one theme that emerged from the many planning research talks I attended was how planning theory and tools applied in practice can lead to unexpected results. Important lessons can clearly be learned through research into what happens in practice, which allows policy and practice to be better informed, and future outcomes to be improved.
It was exciting to see new books hot off the press including The Future for Planners by Ben Clifford and colleagues (the RTPI was a research partner for one of the projects which fed into this) , and Slow Planning? by Mark Dobson and Gavin Parker.
Two things stood out for me – the sheer breadth and diversity of impactful planning research being done across the UK, Ireland and beyond; and the warmth of the researchers – from PhD students to professors to practitioners - and their desire to share knowledge and collaborate to find planning solutions to the problems of our day. It was a genuine pleasure to meet them, and to continue discussions long into the night over pizzas and beer.
I’d particularly like to thank organisers Chris Maidment, Gavin Parker, Emma Street, Mark Dobson and others at the University of Reading for their warm welcome and hospitality throughout.
I had a wonderful time at the UK-Ireland Planning Research Conference in Reading. For a highly informative, stimulating and enjoyable experience, I would encourage anyone engaged in or interested in planning to join us next year – at the University of Ulster in Belfast!
The winners of the 2024 RTPI Awards for Research Excellence were announced at the UK-Ireland Planning Research Conference on 4 September. Congratulations to all our winners and runners-up!
