What now for the future of planning?

Where is the digitisation of the planning system taking us? What skills will the planner of the future need? And how is COVID-19 changing how we think about the places where we live, work and travel? In this first – extended – episode of Connected Places, Professor Greg Clark speaks to the most recent Chief Planner for England, Steve Quartermain CBE as well as the Chief Planner for Singapore, Hwang Yu-Ning. We also meet Darshana Chauhan, Founder of Coplug, a UK company specialising in social infrastructure demand management, and Nissa Shahid, Senior Urbanist and Chartered Planner at the Connected Places Catapult. Music on this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions and Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com) ***SHOW NOTES***  Steve Quartermain CBE recently stepped down as Chief Planner at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government after 12 years in the role. His career in local government has included Epping Forrest, Dartford and Yorkshire and he has also served as President of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI). Hwang Yu-Ning is the Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Planner at the Urban Redevelopment Authority in Singapore. Yu-Ning has also held senior positions in Singapore's National Ministry of Development and the Prime Minister's Office.  She also serves as governing trustees on the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and co-chairs ULI Singapore's Women's Leadership Initiative. Darshana Gothi Chauhan is founder of Coplug, a qualified architect and urban designer with a specialisation in spatial data analytics, digital frameworks, that citizen-centred design. She is also the founder of DesTech - a competition that brings together creative thinking and digital innovation in the built environment, with an outreach in over 200 colleges and universities across South Asia.  Nissa Shahid is a Senior Urbanist at the Connected Places Catapult, and a Chartered Planner, where she specialises in spatial data, GIS applications, planning policy and strategy development. She has worked across the private and third sectors and played a key role in the Catapult's early work on PlanTech. For more information about the UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government's proposals to reform the planning system, click here. If you would like to get involved with the Catapult's PlanTech Challenge, click here for more information about the scheme, the benefits to participating local authorities and contact details. We also mentioned the shared vision and principles of the future of planning that we developed with the RTPI. You can read more here about the vision and its underpinning principles. To watch our recent Third Thursday webinar on Post-Pandemic Places, please click here. To find out more about what we do at the Connected Places Catapult, visit our website for the latest news, events and announcements. And please sign up to our newsletter!