World Town Planning Day is an annual celebration of how good planning improves the lives of people and benefits society at large, creating places to live, work and play together.

    This year’s theme is ‘Learn Globally, Apply Locally’, a message which underlines the inextricable connections between everyday places and communities, and their combined impact on global health and environmental equality.      

    In the UK, the work of our colleagues at the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) is crucial for developing the innovative, sustainable solutions we need. As we look ahead to an election in which housing is likely to be a key issue, it is incumbent on our entire industry to recognise and support the vital role that planners play in ensuring our everyday places meet the demands of both local communities and global challenges alike.  

    This work requires long term vision, and landscape planners have an important role to play in the development and application of strategies, policies and plans to create successful environments, in both urban and rural settings, for the benefit of current and future generations. They assess and resolve environmental, economic, and social opportunities and constraints, to address the capacity of any given land, town or seascape to accommodate change.  

    This can typically involve: 

    • Preparing and advising on policy and strategy within legal frameworks 
    • Preparing green infrastructure plans and implementation strategies 
    • Assessing environmental, landscape and visual impact 
    • Performing landscape character surveys 
    • Masterplanning
    • Conducting community engagement and consultation
    • Advising on compliance with relevant policy, legislation, and standards
    • Providing advice to development control planning officers 

    Collaboration between the LI and the RTPI 

    The LI and the RTPI have a long history of collaboration, such as with the many projects within the UK Built Environment Advisory Group (UKBEAG). The group was Launched in 2016 with the purpose of providing a more effective conduit for globally sharing expertise within the built environment. 

    As part of the group, the LI collaborated with The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) on the Future Cities Programme. Recognising the professional expertise available among the collective UKBEAG membership, UN-Habitat appointed the Group as strategic capacity development partner for the Programme.  

    The Programme involved visiting cities and understanding their context and requirements, and then running thematic events, enabling knowledge exchange, and providing regional leadership forums to ensure that the lessons learnt could be shared effectively.

    Together, the LI and RTPI have achieved so much, and with an ever-strengthening collaboration they look forward to achieving so much more.