University News Last updated 14 April 2014
A Birmingham City University project has been shortlisted for an award at this year’s Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Awards for Planning Excellence.
The awards, which celebrate the very best in planning, will be hotly contested with 63 projects, consultancies and Local Authority teams competing across ten categories.
The University has been shortlisted in the ‘Innovative planning practice in decision making’ category, for their National Ecosystem Approach Toolkit (NEAT) project.
The project forms part of the National Ecosystem Assessment follow on project supported by Research Councils UK and the UK Government. The University’s developed ‘NEAT Tree’ is a web portal for built and natural environment professionals to use to mainstream nature more effectively into policy and decision making.
Alister Scott, Professor of Environmental and Spatial Planning at Birmingham City University, said: “Given recent flooding and extreme weather events it’s important that we learn to work with nature to produce multiple benefits for society, the economy and the environment.
“The web interface provides guidance within accepted steps of a policy or decision making process, signposting the best bundle of tools to help support a particular sets of goals. It is 'applied common sense' which marries up the built and natural environment into a holistic framework.”
Chairing the panel of 24 expert judges for this year’s awards is Sir Terry Farrell, one the world’s leading architect planners. Sir Terry is also author of the recent Farrell Review, a UK government-commissioned review of architecture and the built environment.
Sir Terry said: “The standard of entries to the RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence is extremely impressive and a credit to the profession. This is the second year I have chaired the judging and I am proud to say that once again our shortlist reflects the very best planning projects, strategies and processes that are helping to make great places for people to live and work.”
The awards ceremony takes place on Monday 23 June at the Shaw Theatre in the Pullman London St Pancras. For more information, visit www.rtpi.org.uk.