Strategic Planning has returned to the UK Planning Agenda as a nation-wide approach to create thriving places, ensure synergies across planning levels and local authority borders, and prioritise aims, efforts and resources. Here, it is important to explore how local authorities can best integrate strategic planning into their planning work to ensure the delivery of the housing and infrastructure we need, and climate resilience initiatives and plans. Strategic Planning has been part of UK planning for several decades, but has become almost non-mandatory since 2010. Its current status has been described by an RTPI-led research as ‘a patchwork quilt, with varying approaches in different geographical contexts’ (RTPI Research, Aug. 2024).
Based on our earlier work in practice and Higher Education, Strategic Planning is a powerful tool that can help shape a city or an area’s vision for the future, addressing its most significant challenges and capitalising on its strengths and opportunities. It helps prioritise aims as linked to available resources, and identify effective collaborations and partnerships for each project in the short and long term to create impact. Its effectiveness also relates to its ability to integrate and prioritise cross-sector aims at several scales.
While Strategic Planning can revitalise local areas, it is a great tool to integrate and localise sustainability aims at multiple scales, ensuring more inclusive cities and regions, environmental protection, conservation and restoration, and vibrant economies. It is a major tool to localise the Climate Agenda and the SDGs, which Dr Roudaina Alkhani demonstrated through her work in Higher Education in collaboration with local authorities, including the London Borough of Hounslow and Medway Council. She presented outcomes in a session she organised at the Innovate4Cities Conference in 2022, representing UN-Habitat P4CA’s working groups.
How can we help?
We are excited to take this further with local authorities and support our local partners in approaching and developing their Spatial Development Strategies (SDS) and integrating them into the local planning process.
Please get in touch with Roudaina Alkhani (roudaina.alkhani@platforms.uk.com) if you wish to discuss how we can help. We can for example, deliver a targeted collaborative local workshop for your local authority on ‘Strategic Planning Methods’ to explore the above themes, and support you further in developing your strategy.
We look forward to hearing from you!