In this issue
RTPI Education
News
October 2014
~ for Planning teachers, practitioners and
researchers ~
STUDENTS
Free membership for all
students on accredited
programmes is welcomed
Students and teachers have welcomed
the introduction of free membership of the
Royal Town Planning Institute for all
students on programmes accredited by
the Institute. Free membership for
students in all years of accredited
programmes was introduced on 1
September. Previously, only final year
students had free membership.
Adam Sheppard, Director of the Joint
Distance
Learning
Consortium
programme, and Senior Lecturer in the
Department
of
Geography
and
Environmental Management at the
University of the West of England, said:
‘Free membership from year one will be
very beneficial to our students.
‘It will allow the relationship between the
student and their professional body to
begin from the earliest possible stage,
regardless of the student’s financial
position. This will enable students to gain
the benefits of membership and it will also
support their progression at university and
within the planning profession.’
Benefits for students on accredited
RTPI Education News October 2014 Issue 6
Signs of student recovery p2 / job market
boost p3 / Future Planners p3 / South
West schools competition p4 / China influx
p4 / good practice: graphics p5 / Cape
Town engagement p5 / Education Awards
p6 / research directory p7 / housing &
infrastructure research p7 / accreditation
volunteers p9 / members’ learning project
p10 / student meetings under way p10 /
Learning Partners supporting students
p11 / student prize winners p11 / Glasgow
awards p11 / RTPI Learn helping CPD
p12 /
programmes include a free digital copy of
The Planner, free membership of RTPI
networks, reduced subscription to the
research journal Planning Theory and
Practice, and access to the RTPI Trust in
case of genuine financial difficulties.
Adam said: ‘Students will be better placed
to interact directly with practitioners,
leaders and stakeholders from across the
spectrum of planning activity through
social media and national, regional, local
and Network events. The access and
insight now available to all students will
ensure that they are fully supported on
their student journey and on into planning
practice.’
JDLC student Ashish Kulkar told RTPI
Education News: ‘The RTPI has done a
great job in opening student membership
for free for all years. A student like myself,
coming from India, will certainly be helped
and it will make a positive impact on our
professional development. As a student, I
am benefitting from the online learning
portal, which is also helpful in getting used
to using online learning resources. Weekly
reviews and the RTPI magazine will also
keep us updated with the latest issues in
planning.’
Fiona Stanforth, a first year JDLC student,
added: ‘The main advantage of free
student membership over the duration of
the course is that I am able to access the
full range of services and resources, as
1
well
as networking
and
volunteering opportunities that the RTPI
offers students from an early stage in my
course without having to consider the
cost. I feel that this will have a positive
impact on both my studying and career
prospects over this time.’
And JDLC student Marcus Halsall said:
‘Free Student Membership of the RTPI
means that I can work towards full
membership and being able to do this in
all years rather than just the last
one helps with preparing the logbook and
APC early whilst still studying and making
a decision as to which type of membership
best suits my needs. The RTPI magazine
is another resource for coursework
and together with the support they offer is
an added benefit.’
Fluctuating numbers of planning
students starting to recover as
economy begins to grow
Recent data from the annual data returns
provided by planning schools in the UK
with
RTPI-accredited
programmes
indicate significant fluctuations in their
student numbers over the past decade.
But as the economy moves out of
recession - with falling unemployment and
rising demand for housing, plus an
improving job market for planners (see
following article) - there are signs of an
upturn in demand for places on planning
courses.
Numbers of students on RTPI-accredited
courses rose considerably towards the
late 2000s, and then fell by 2012 to
around the same level as the mid-2000s.
There are signs of the start of a recovery
in student numbers in the UK in 2013-14 –
or at least a levelling-off of the drop in
demand since the late 2000s - but the
data for that year and the preceding one
do not include two planning schools.
Higher Education Statistics Agency data
for
all
full-time
and
part-time
undergraduate and postgraduate students
in the UK of ‘Planning – urban, rural and
RTPI Education News October 2014 Issue 6
regional’ students generally indicate a
fluctuating pattern of demand. Student
numbers steadily fell from the mid-1990s
to the early 2000s, then steadily rose by
the late 2000s to a level similar to that of
the mid-1990s, before falling again to the
2012-13 position. HESA data for 2013-14
and the current academic year were not
yet available at the time of writing.
Students on RTPI-accredited
programmes, UK
5000
4500
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Source: RTPI
It is worth noting that the fluctuations
appeared
greater
for
full-time
undergraduates
and
part-time
undergraduates and postgraduates, while
numbers of full-time postgraduates have
generally risen over the period.
All students on planning programmes UK
(HESA)
14000
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
Source: HESA
2
(This article is based on the Secretariat
report to the 2014 meeting of the RTPI’s
Partnership and Accreditation Panel.
Please contact Stephen.court@rtpi.org.uk
if you would like a copy of the report.)
Signs of recovery in the
job market for planners
There is evidence that the demand for
planning graduates is beginning to exceed
supply, according to Nick Smith, Associate
Head of the Department of Geography
and Environmental Management at the
University of the West of England. He
said: ‘Employment prospects nationally
are increasing, particularly in the
consultancy and house-building sector.’
Analysis of the Planning Resource
website showed that it was
recently
advertising 181 jobs (at all levels and
across the UK), compared with snap-shot
figures captured in May 2013 (121) and
May 2012 (98) and May 2011 (74).
‘Employers have commented on the
increased level of competition to secure
the best graduates,’ Nick added.
Meanwhile Royal Town Planning Institute
analysis of data about destinations of
leavers from higher education institutions
indicates a rise in employment levels for
graduates from degrees accredited by the
Institute and an increase in the proportion
of planning graduates finding work as
architects, town planners or surveyors.
Latest data from Unistats, the official
website providing information about
university courses, and using figures on
destinations of leavers from higher
education institutions figures relating to
2012-13, indicate that on average 70%
graduates of RTPI-accredited Bachelor’s
programmes in planning were working six
months after graduating (ie in January
2014 after graduating in 2013). The figure
for the previous year was 57%.
There has been a reduction in
unemployment for planning graduates. For
2012-13, 8.5% of planning graduates were
RTPI Education News October 2014 Issue 6
unemployed six months after graduating,
down from 10% the previous year. And for
2012-13, 79% of planning graduates who
were employed were in a professional job
(74% the previous year), while 45% of
those who were employed were
architects, town planners or surveyors
(32% the previous year).
Future Planners project
- inspiring the next generation
By the end of the school year in July 2014,
146 volunteers had signed up to register
to be a Royal Town Planning Institute
Ambassador as part of the Institute’s
Future Planners project. The project aims
to complete 100 school visits in 2014 as
part of the RTPI’s Centenary initiatives.
Working with materials provided by the
RTPI and a network of regional volunteer
coordinators, Ambassador volunteers
have been visiting secondary schools
across the UK and Republic of Ireland,
giving presentations about how planning
impacts communities and how young
people can get involved in the planning
process.
RTPI’s Policy & Networks Adviser, David
Pendlebury, who is managing the Future
Planners project, said: ‘Through these
visits, the RTPI Ambassadors are inspiring
the next generation of planners to take a
close and active interest in the
development of their communities.
‘In the first 7 months of 2014, 48 school
visits had either taken place or been
arranged. The programme is now working
to continue to enrol new Ambassadors
and provide enrolled ambassadors with
the support needed to deliver their
classes. ‘Going into 2015, the project will
be looking to enrol more and new
Ambassador and coordinator volunteers,’
David said.
Dawn Errington, Principal Planning Officer
at Eastleigh Borough Council, recently
spoke as a RTPI Ambassador to A-level
students at Barton Peveril College in
3
Eastleigh, Hampshire. After the visit she
said: ‘It was a pleasure to return to the
college where I took the career choice to
become a planner and talk with students
about this possibility as their career
option.’
responsibilities and workloads
planning professional.’
Former Young Planner of the year, Alison
Wright,
who
works
for
property
consultancy Savills, said after an
Ambassadors visit to Year 7 students at
Little Heath School in Tilehurst, Berkshire:
‘I really enjoyed talking to students about
planning. We had lots of interaction in the
session, particularly on the local case
study. From reading some of the student’s
competition entries it was also clear that
they had understood the importance of
planning
in
shaping
their
local
environment.’
RTPI planning film released
Kirstie Hopcroft
And RTPI Ambassador Kirstie Hopcroft,
from the planning and design company
Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners, who
recently spoke to students at the Aquinas
College, Stockport, about the everyday
impact of planning and how planners are
helping shape the future of Manchester,
said: ‘It was really useful for the students
to get an insight of how planning has
impacted on the new Aquinas College
site. They were also very interested in the
various roles within planning. From
heritage consultant to transport planner
the students were intrigued to learn about
the opportunities that can arise from
completing a planning degree and were
interested to learn about the day to day
RTPI Education News October 2014 Issue 6
of
a
For more information on the programme,
and how to become an Ambassador, visit
the RTPI website here.
A short RTPI film on planning, How do we
plan our world?, that has been produced
as part of the Future Planners project, is
now
available
on
YouTube
at:
http://goo.gl/alfgtc The 2.5 minute film has
to date had more than 730 views on
YouTube.
South West school students in
neighbourhood sustainability
competition
The universities of Plymouth and the
West of England, in collaboration with the
RTPI South West and with sponsorship
from architects Stride Treglown, have
launched a regional schools’ competition
to encourage secondary school students
to identify ways their neighbourhood can
achieve greater sustainability. A briefing
pack providing information about planning
has been distributed to schools to support
the competition. The material actively
supports the RTPI’s Future Planners
programme and a number of successful
school visits have already been held.
China dominates UK intake of
planning students from overseas
In 2012-13, the UK was the domicile of
77.8% of all students studying planning
(including
on
RTPI-accredited
programmes) at a higher education
institution in the UK, according to data
provided to the Royal Town Planning
Institute by the Higher Education Statistics
Agency.
A further 4.5% of planning students were
domiciled in other EU countries, and
17.7% were domiciled in non-EU
4
countries, with 8.4% of all planning
students in the UK coming from China
(including Hong Kong).
Of those domiciled in non-EU countries,
the main ‘senders’ of students were China
with 695 students (including 80 from Hong
Kong); then the United States and Nigeria
(with 60 students each); then India,
Canada and South Korea (50 students
each); then Malaysia (30 students); then
Thailand and Taiwan (25 each) (numbers
rounded to the nearest five).
TEACHING
Good practice: graphics skills
A Moodle-based graphics workshop has
been developed by Professor Matthew
Carmona, of the Bartlett School of
Planning at University College London,
working with David Chapman of Urban
Design Skills, to improve teaching
graphics skills in the classroom.
Urban Skills Portal began in the summer
of 2013 and now hosts seven on-line
workshops with three more on the way. In
its first three months 800 users signed up
to take workshops from 23 universities
globally. Twenty-one universities are now
partners.
According to the portal, built environment
students and professionals who have no
previous design, graphics or urban
analytical experience will learn how to
prepare professional drawings and
documents,
using
industry-standard
software or open-source alternatives.
Professor Carmona said: ‘The advent of
an externally facing Moodle platform at
UCL provided an opportunity to further
develop the approach and open it up as a
resource for planning students and
professionals everywhere.
‘Online learning represents a real
opportunity to materially improve the
graphics skills of planners, contributing in
the process to a new generation of more
confident,
creative
and
proactive
RTPI Education News October 2014 Issue 6
professionals.’ In addition to freeing up
classroom time to focus on the
substantive content of project work rather
than basic skills development, the
workshops also allow students to learn at
their own pace and in their own time,
making it much easier to cope with the
differential graphics skills of participants,
he said.
The first series of workshops focused on
core graphics for built environment
students and professionals and on
preparing 2D and 3D visuals for
communicating proposals and ideas more
effectively. They are designed for those
with no previous experience of graphics,
design or urban analysis software.
To these have recently been added new
workshops on GIS, CAD and urban film
and photography. The workshops all use
industry
standard
software
with
instructions also provided on a range of
freeware alternatives.
To try the free workshops go to:
https://extendstore.ucl.ac.uk and click on
Urban Skills Portal. Currently, four of the
seven workshops are free. To become a
partner contact: tatiana.souza@ucl.ac.uk
Cape Town planning students’
engagement focuses on
community upgrading
The focus of a 16-week studio-based
course earlier this year for students from
the City and Regional Planning, City
Planning and Urban Design, and
Landscape
Architecture
Master’s
programmes at the University of Cape
Town was a community engagement
project to develop settlement upgrading
proposals in Gugulethu, Cape Town.
The course, titled Planning Project A,
included an in-depth analysis of a
neighbourhood, and the establishment of
appropriate
spatial
development
frameworks for the neighbourhood under
study.
5
Dr Tanja Winkler, studio facilitator, said:
‘This course is conceptualised as a
community-led and involved project.
Master’s students work directly with, learn
from, and share their knowledge with
informal settlement residents, as well as
with an intermediary NGO, for the purpose
of developing appropriate in situ
settlement upgrading proposals. All
participants embraced the idea of learning
from local knowledge and experience, and
sharing knowledge amongst participants.’
presented at the Planning Research
conference
at
Oxford
Brookes
University on 10 September. The awards
were open to academics and students on
RTPI-accredited planning courses.
The project included local residents and
NGO members spending a significant
amount of time with UCT students and
staff ‘in the field’, and in formal lecture and
studio sessions held at UCT. ‘Research
findings were collected and analysed
through respectful and ethical processes
of mutual-learning,’ Dr Winkler said.
The UK Biobank Urban Morphometric
Platform is a high resolution database of
more
than
750
spatial
urban
morphological metrics for the 500,000
Britons in the Biobank Prospective cohort.
The platform is being developed as a
nationwide resource for evidence-based
healthy city planning and other public
health interventions.
In the academic category, the winners
were Professor Chris Webster, of the
University of Hong Kong, and Dr
Chinmoy Sarkar, of Cardiff University,
for their work on the Development of the
UK Biobank Urban Morphometric platform.
‘These kinds of community-university
engagements aim to make a contribution,
however modestly, to UCT's social
responsiveness goals.
Communityuniversity engagements also serve to
build relationships between UCT, the
state, and civil society. However, since
planning
projects
and
outcomes
necessitate time and political will, during
our 2014 project we also explored the idea
of implementing 'shorter-term' initiatives.’
One example of a short-term intervention
initiated by community leaders and
students, focusing on food security, can
be seen on YouTube at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2Wp
DlInyh4&feature=youtu.be>
RESEARCH
Research into healthy cities and
interim property use wins at the
2014 Education Awards
Research linked to the development of a
nationwide resource for evidence-based
healthy city planning as part of the UK
Biobank won the academic category in the
2014 Education Awards for excellence in
spatial planning research, which were
RTPI Education News October 2014 Issue 6
Chris Webster (left) and Chinmoy Sarkar
Professor Kathy Pain, of the University of
Reading, was commended for her
ESPON TIGER - Territorial Impact of
Globalization for Europe and its Regions work.
In the student category, the winner was
Jennifer Angus from the University of the
West of England, for her work on
temporary or interim uses of property –
such as pop-up shops. Her dissertation
investigated whether temporary or interim
uses of property have been embraced by
local municipalities as a legitimate
approach within the planning/urban
development 'toolkit'. Her work highlighted
examples of innovation and potential for
6
the practice to be used to greater effect.
Cohesion and Social Inclusion / Conservation and
Reconstruction / Economic Development / Energy /
Environmental
Management
and
Impact
Assessment / Governance and Leadership / Health
and
Well-Being
/
Housing
/
International
Development / Marine and Maritime Planning /
Planning Theory and Education / Real Estate and
Property Planning / Regeneration / Space, Place
and Local Planning / Spatial and Strategic Planning
/
Sustainable
Planning
and
Development
/
Transport and Infrastructure / Urban Agriculture and
Jennifer Angus
Urban-Rural Interaction
A group of undergraduate students from
Cardiff University were commended for
their project to produce a spatial plan for
the Cardiff City Region.
UWE research into use of
brownfield land for housing
More information about the awards
http://www.rtpi.org.uk/events/awards/rtpiawards-for-planning-excellence2014/education-lifelong-learning-awards2014/
Planning schools research
directory now online
The RTPI website now features a
comprehensive directory of research
being carried out by planning schools
which are accredited by the Institute. The
directory features current research taking
place at the RTPI accredited planning
schools, as well as other relevant
research within other departments at
these universities.
To find out more about specific research
topics, go to the following on the RTPI
website:




Knowledge
Research
Planning Research Exchange
Planning
Schools
Research
Directory
or click on the featured subject headings
below:
The Centre for Sustainable Planning and
Environments at the University of the
West of England, Bristol, has been
commissioned by the Campaign to Protect
Rural England to examine the availability
of brownfield land for housing in England.
This project is being conducted by Dr
Danielle Sinnett, Professor Katie Williams
and Dr Laurence Carmichael and
analyses the amount of brownfield land in
England, explores the approaches to
brownfield land being taken by local
authorities, and assesses the barriers and
incentives to brownfield development. This
work is due to be published later this year,
for more information please contact
Danielle at danielle.sinnett@uwe.ac.uk.
The Centre has also recently started work
on the three-year INSPIRE: IN Situ
Processes In Resource Extraction project,
which is funded through the Natural
Environment
Research
Council’s
Resource
Recovery
from
Waste
programme. This work is being conducted
in collaboration with the Universities of
Cardiff (lead) and Warwick, and will
investigate technologies to recover
resources from landfills, mine and
industrial wastes. For more information,
please
contact
Danielle
at
danielle.sinnett@uwe.ac.uk.
Built Environment / Climate Change / Community
RTPI Education News October 2014 Issue 6
7
Housing and infrastructure come
under the spotlight at Sheffield
Recent research grants won by staff at the
Department of Town and Regional
Planning at the University of Sheffield
include the following:
 Dr Sarah Payne, 'Examining
housebuilder behaviour in a
recovering housing market' (British
Academy);
 Dr Alasdair Rae, 'Housing market
search
behaviour'
(Bank
of
England);
 Dr Aidan While et al, 'Infrastructure
and Planning' (Joseph Rowntree
Foundation);
 Dr Ed Ferrari et al, 'Strategic
Housing
Market
Assessment'
(Rotherham Metropolitan Borough
Council);
 Professor John Henneberry et al,
'The English experience of 'soft'
densification' (Ministry of Housing
and Regional Equality, France).
NEWS IN BRIEF
The July reshuffle of government ministers
in England saw Universities and Science
Minister David Willetts replaced by Greg
Clark, who also has the brief for cities and
growth – offering potential for greater links
between higher education and regional
growth.
In August Deirdre McGrath, a planner who
works in Economic Development and
Planning for Limerick County Council and
is an Executive Committee member of
RTPI Ireland, was appointed as RTPI
Representative on the University College
Cork-RTPI Partnership Board.
On 22 September Leeds Metropolitan
University changes its name to Leeds
Beckett University.
RTPI Education News October 2014 Issue 6
From September the MA in Planning and
Sustainability at the University of
Kingston will be provided by the School
of Architecture and Landscape, following
the closure of the School of Surveying and
Planning at the university and closure of
the MA in Sustainable Place Making and
Urban Design.
In October, there will be a RTPI full
accreditation visit at Dublin Institute of
Technology.
For entry from October 2014 the entrance
requirement for the MSc Environmental
Planning at Queen's University Belfast’s
School of Planning, Architecture and Civil
Engineering is being reduced from a 2.1 to
a 2.2 honours degree.
The convenor of the University of Cape
Town Masters in City and Regional
Planning Programme, Professor Vanessa
Watson, is to lead from 2015 a three-year
research project on urban food security in
three African countries: Kenya, Zambia
and Zimbabwe. The project grant was
awarded to UCT’s African Centre for
Cities
http://www.africancentreforcities.net/
by
the UK’s Economic and Social Research
Council and England’s Department for
International Development, for just under
£2m. The title of the project is ‘Governing
food systems to alleviate poverty in
secondary cities in Africa’.
Professors Rowland Atkinson and Gwilym
Pryce have joined the Department of
Town and Regional Planning at the
University of Sheffield, and Berna
Keskin (Real Estate) and Bobby
Mohammed and Patricia Aelbrecht (Urban
Design) have been appointed there as
University Teaching Associates.
Dr Graham Squires has recently joined
the Centre for Urban and Regional
Studies (CURS), School of Geography,
Earth and Environmental Sciences, at the
University of Birmingham as Senior
Lecturer in Planning and Real Estate. He
recently completed a Visiting Scholarship
at the University of California Berkeley,
8
sponsored by the Fulbright US–UK
Visiting Scholarship Program. In addition
to International Approaches to Real Estate
Development (Routledge, 2014), he is
also
the
author
of
Urban
and
Environmental Economics (Routledge,
2013).
surface transport systems.
RTPI
Positive response to call for
accreditation and partnership
volunteers
A significant number of volunteers have
applied for roles in accreditation of
planning courses by the Royal Town
Planning Institute and on the Institute’s
Partnership Boards – the joint RTPIuniversity bodies that monitor the quality
of accredited degrees and accredit new
programmes.
Graham Squires
Dr Matthew Cocks will be joining the
CURS team at the University of
Birmingham early in January 2015 as a
Teaching Fellow. He has experience in
researching and teaching a variety
of subjects related to planning; in
particular, UK planning history, urban
regeneration, economic development
policy, urban
governance
/
leadership and shrinking cities.
Matthew Cocks
A new MSc in urban transport is starting at
the University of Glasgow in September
2015. Dr Jinhyun Hong, Transportation
Planning lecturer in Glasgow’s Urban
Studies subject
area,
said:
‘The
programme is designed to educate
students to meet the needs of cities and
urban areas in planning and managing
RTPI Education News October 2014 Issue 6
In August a call for accreditation and
Partnership
Board
volunteers
was
published in The Planner, as well as the
RTPI members’ bulletin. By the start of
September, there were 16 applicants for
the roles. These and future applicants will
comprise a pool of volunteers from which
new accreditation and Partnership Board
roles will be filled.
The open call for volunteers follows the
the Partnership Board Review, which said
that the RTPI appointments of Chair and
Representative should be open and
representative of the membership, using
the good governance maximum of 3+3
years in the role. The other RTPI
appointment on Partnership Boards – the
Secretariat – is a member of RTPI staff.
In 2014 new RTPI appointments are
needed in the following Partnership Board
roles where role-holders have completed
six years’ service: RTPI Representatives
at the universities of Birmingham City,
Hong Kong, Manchester, Plymouth,
Ulster, Westminster, and Queen’s
University Belfast; Chairs at the
universities of Hong Kong, Reading, and
Sheffield.
The RTPI would like to thank the following
members for long service in accreditation
and Partnership Board roles:
9
RTPI accreditation long service
Mark Baker
Role
Rep
Peter Batey
Chair
Claire Bridges
Jane Healey
Brown
David Chapman
“
“
Rep
University
Oxford Brookes
Queen’s Belfast;
Sheffield
Birmingham City
Rep
Manchester
Chair
DM
Chris Couch
Chair
Hong Kong
Malta
Leeds Beckett
(Metropolitan)
Cork
Dundee; Partnership
and Accreditation Panel
Birmingham City
Anglia Ruskin
Plymouth
Botswana; Cambridge
Ulster
Westminster
Liverpool
Hong Kong
Dundee
Queen’s Belfast
Reading
Brighton
Plymouth
Reading
Cardiff
Glasgow
“
“
DM
Tony Crook
Chair
Sue Glover
Jon Grantham
“
“
Cliff Hague
Helen Harrison
Ann Hockey
John Knight
“
“
Jenny Lampert
Edward Landor
John McCarthy
“
“
Ruth Richards
“
“
Keith Thomas
Martin Willey
Chair
Chair
Rep
DM
Rep
Rep
Chair
Rep
Rep
Rep
Chair
DM
DM
Rep
Rep
DM
DM = Dialogue Member
Rep = RTPI Representative
Please contact Stephen.court@rtpi.org.uk
if you are interested in applying to
participate
in
the
RTPI’s
future
accreditation work.
will ensure that the RTPI can continue to
meet planners’ learning and practice
needs and these can be addressed
through a targeted programme of
education and advice delivered by a range
of organisations, including the Institute.
The project is expected to contribute to
the continuous improvement of planning
practice, and the value of planning as a
profession.
Phase 1 of the project is a scoping stage
looking at the ways the Institute currently
assesses learning and practice needs,
and how these needs can be met. The
RTPI will be consulting with staff and
committees
as
well
as
external
stakeholders over the next few months. If
you have any questions about this project
please
contact
Cat
at
catherine.goumal@rtpi.org.uk
RTPI student meetings
– new year under way
Meetings in the 2014-15 academic year
for students on Royal Town Planning
Institute-accredited programmes have
started. The meetings include a
presentation from the RTPI on what the
Institute is and does, and how
membership can benefit students; and
presentations from local practitioners
working in the public and private sectors,
to give advice to the students on jobhunting, CVs and interview techniques.
RTPI launches project on
members’ learning and practice
needs
To date, student meetings at the following
universities
have
been
arranged:
Newcastle (25 September), Brighton,
Leeds Beckett (formerly Metropolitan)
(both 1 October), Dundee (3 October),
Anglia Ruskin (15 October), Reading
(November), Westminster, UCL (both 18
November),
and
Plymouth
(25
November).
The RTPI is analysing how the Institute
can improve the ways it meets members’
practice and learning needs. The aim of
the project is for the RTPI to identify the
learning and practice needs of planners
and other members of the Institute. This
In addition, in 2014-15 the RTPI’s
Education, Careers and Lifelong Learning
team are also offering to give talks at
universities providing RTPI-accredited
courses, about postgraduate degrees and
careers in planning to undergraduates on
RTPI Education News October 2014 Issue 6
10
non-planning programmes.
For further information, and to arrange for
a student meeting in 2014-15, please
contact the RTPI’s Higher Education
Officer
Stephen
Court
at
Stephen.court@rtpi.org.uk
RTPI Learning Partners
supporting planning students
The Royal Town Planning Institute and
one of its Learning Partners, the planning
and design company Nathaniel Lichfield
and Partners, are working together to
provide advice and guidance on jobhunting and careers in planning to
students on RTPI-accredited courses.
become RTPI Learning Partners. At the
time of writing, RTPI Learning Partners
include 16 consultancies, nine local
planning authorities, two government
agencies and one university – with the
Coal Authority and NHS Property Services
preparing to become Learning Partners.
Student prize winners
Congratulations to the following winners in
2014 to date of the RTPI student book
prize:
University
Student
Newcastle
Phoebe Juggins
Heriot-Watt
Rachel Mun Wei Wong*
Dundee
Louise Smith
Dundee
Lucy Sumner
In the 2014-15 academic year, planners
from NLP will be speaking at RTPI student
meetings at the University of Newcastle,
and a further two other university
presentations are planned.
UWE
Sarah Hayes
Cardiff
Emma Thorpe
Sheffield
Lee Alexander Stannard
ARU
Laura Waters
Cape Town
Nobukhosi Ngwenya (for 2013)
Planners from other Learning Partners including Ove Arup and Partners, and
Savills - have spoken at RTPI student
meetings in the past year.
LSBU
Benjamin Thomas Bailey*
LSBU
Charlotte Pamela Gartshore**
*undergraduate prize
**postgraduate prize
Stephen Court, RTPI’s Higher Education
Officer, said: ‘It’s great to be working with
our Learning Partners to help students on
RTPI accredited courses to start or
develop their careers.
Glasgow City Centre West and
North Glasgow projects win RTPI
West of Scotland student awards
‘There are a lot of ways that Learning
Partners can help students and accredited
planning schools, in terms of advice,
informal
networking
and
career
development. And accredited planning
schools also have a lot to offer Learning
Partners, including teaching, research and
consultancy. I welcome the opportunity to
help Learning Partners develop working
relationships with their nearby planning
school,’ he said.
A spatial planning strategies project
looking at City Centre West, Glasgow - by
Rebecca Cox, Monica Forde, Ewan Muir
and Matthew Gamboa - won the RTPI
West of Scotland award for students on
the University of Glasgow’s Masters in
Real Estate Planning and Regeneration.
A project by Luca Lamonaca, Thomas
Wood Flemming, Liyuan Zhuang and Eoin
Timothy Cashman was commended.
RTPI Learning Partner status is a mark of
an employer which plays a key role in
supporting the education and professional
development activities of its staff.
Organisations who do this well can
RTPI Education News October 2014 Issue 6
An urban design studio project looking at
North Glasgow, by Osman Osman, Sen
Chen and Siti Anis Abdullah, won the
West of Scotland chapter award for the
University of Strathclyde’s MSc in Urban
Design. A project by Craig Vesey was
commended.
11
The chapter makes an annual award to
the students of Glasgow’s two RTPI
accredited masters courses. The awards
presentation in Glasgow on 12 June was
supported by the University of Glasgow’s
Real Estate, Planning and Regeneration
Alumni Association.
2014 Young Planners conference
– waiting room only!
The annual Young Planners' Conference
2014 - Future Challenges: Finding a
Planning Balance - will be hosted by the
South West Young Planners in Bristol.
The conference, with a focus on looking
ahead and considering the challenges of
future-proofing communities, is now sold
out - please contact Ellie Green to be put
on the waiting list. There are still tickets
available for the dinner - don't miss out
book now!
Institute members use RTPI
Learn to meet CPD targets
More than 1,480 people have undertaken
learning through RTPI Learn since the
launch of the Institute’s virtual learning
website in January 2014. Some members
have already successfully completed
modules on RTPI Learn and used them to
meet the RTPI’s CPD requirement of 50
hours of learning in each two-year period.
The free modules on RTPI Learn - on
viability,
climate
change,
public
engagement and infrastructure delivery
planning - each provide at least 15 hours
of CPD,.
A learner completing the climate change
module said: ‘A fantastic learning exercise
which told me everything I need to know
about climate change and ideas for
responding in seeking to minimise the
threats.’ And a learner completing the
public engagement in planning module
commented: ‘Easy to fit the module
around my day and commitments - flexible
approach to achieving CPD.’
RTPI Education News October 2014 Issue 6
RTPI Learn also provides templates to
help members prepare their professional
development plans and CPD records.
Learners will need to create a new
account on the RTPI Learning website in
order to register. To access RTPI Learn,
please go to: http://rtpilearn.org.uk/ If you
would like more information about RTPI
Learn, please email rtpilearn@rtpi.org.uk
or telephone the Senior Education,
Careers and Lifelong Learning Officer on
0207 929 8174.
RTPI membership
One of the RTPI’s criteria for an effective
planning school is that the school’s staff
are concerned about and involved with the
planning profession. It is expected that a
significant proportion of staff (full or parttime) should normally be RTPI members –
usually as either Chartered or Associate
members - and that this would normally
include the Head of School and
Course/Programme Director/Leader.
Where this is not the case (e.g. outside
the UK and Ireland), staff are encouraged
to consider applying for membership.
Otherwise, the institute would wish to
explore what alternative professional
qualifications
might
be
considered
appropriate and the ways in which local
RTPI members might contribute to initial
planning education.
Schools will also be expected to invest in
a relationship with the RTPI Regions and
Nations, to encourage and facilitate active
involvement of its students in local affairs,
to assist in preparing students for
membership and to provide guidance
about career paths towards and beyond
membership. For further information on
membership please call 020 7929 9462 or
email membership@rtpi.org.uk or see
http://www.rtpi.org.uk/membership/
For further information about RTPI Education News,
or to contribute material, letters or comment, please
contact Stephen Court (RTPI Higher Education
Officer) at stephen.court@rtpi.org.uk
12