National park project shortlisted for Planning for Excellence award

Birmingham City University’s West Midlands National Park (WMNP) project has been shortlisted for a prestigious award from the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI).

Opportunities for further collaborations and recognition

The WMNP project, part of the Creative Artistic Thinking in Design (CATiD) research hub, has been shortlisted for the RTPI’s West Midlands Award for Planning Excellence.

There is cause for further celebration, too, as fellow BCU lecturer Simeon Shtebunaev has been nominated for Young Planner of the Year.

The RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence are the longest running and most high-profile awards in the industry, and Kathryn Moore and Anastasia Nikologianni – one of the academics behind the WMNP project – are delighted to be recognised.

“We feel excited and pleased that we have made one more step towards the greater recognition and the materialisation of the WMNP,” Anastasia says.

“The award nomination will definitely help us with the wider dissemination of the WMNP approach, and open up further collaborations in other disciplines.”

Important recognition

The WMNP project has seen Nikologianni and project lead Kathryn Moore partner with a number of organisations, including West Midlands Combined Authorities, to establish a new national park that will provide multiple benefits to the city.

It will help to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, and has been endorsed by Mayor Andy Street.

“Recognition from the RTPI is an excellent way to articulate the broad ideas of the WMNP, as well as give a more holistic landscape and environmental approach to the planning disciplines,” says Anastasia.

“With our project being shortlisted, we can make sure that the landscape architects’ voice is being heard and also demonstrate the high-quality research and design work that is being done at BCU.”

The awards are set to take place in November 2021.