DPU alumni selected for programme aiming to boost public sector planning expertise

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has announced the first cohort of a programme that aims to boost the capacity of planning departments during a visit to the East Croydon Masterplan area.

The Public Practice social enterprise was founded last year to help address a lack of public sector planning capacity recognised as the primary barrier to delivering the quantity and quality of homes the country needs. The first cohort will undertake placement work with the intention of setting up council-led housebuilding programmes and shaping masterplans for new gardens towns.

Akil Scafe-Smith (top-right in photo), alumni of the DPU’s MSc Building & Urban Design in Development programme, was one of 17 Associates to have been selected from over 200 applicants for year long placements in leading Authorities across London and the wider South East. Akil, an urban designer, will be joining the London Borough of Croydon’s spatial planning service as a placemaking officer.