Timothy Crawshaw, the President of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), visited the University of Liverpool to talk to an audience of staff, students and planning practitioners about the challenges and issues in the field of planning, in particular the impact of climate change, and challenges such as retrofitting the built environment to address this.
Mr Crawshaw took over the Presidency of the RTPI in January 2022 and has a particular interest in the interconnected issues of wellbeing, climate change and tackling inequalities in the planning industry.
The University of Liverpool is home to the first Planning school in the world, founded in 1909 and has maintained a strong ethos of public service and professional engagement in the development of planning education, with notable staff and alumni including Sir Patrick Abercrombie, Gordon Stephenson and Professor Peter Batey, who headed up the Mersey Basin Campaign to clean up and regenerate the Mersey river basin.
During his visit, Mr Crawshaw learnt about the University's innovative education and research programmes and the important role the University plays in training future planners to work in the UK and around the world.
The University's planning programmes are accredited by the RTPI and offer a specific and unique emphasis on planning, community development and localism, professional competence, international awareness, assessment of environmental and other impacts of development, housing, marine spatial planning, and integrated approaches to sustainability.
Joining staff and students at the event were planning specialists from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and local industry.
Dr Olivier Sykes, Senior Lecturer in European Spatial Planning, organised the visit and said: "It was a pleasure to welcome Tim to the University and to be able to discuss our world-class planning programmes that are linked with professional bodies and industry partners in order to teach the latest theoretical and practical knowledge to our students.
"Tim gave a fascinating talk that provoked an interesting discussion from the audience that included our students and staff and practitioners from the city region. The event provided a really good opportunity for knowledge exchange and to build on our links in the city region and to the wider profession. We look forward to continuing to work together with Tim and the RTPI to promote the important role planning plays in ensuring more sustainable and resilient places, in environmental, social and economic terms."
To find out more about studying Planning at the University of Liverpool please visit this webpage.
