Soundbite: The Future of Urban Planning

Book Now

**This event is now sold out. Please email ana.diez.17@ucl.ac.uk to put your name on the waiting list.**

We use Eventbrite for Soundbite and Director's Seminars registrations. Please sign up through the link above, and note that seating is offered on a first-come-first-served basis.

About

In an age of rapid urban growth and expansion, planning is crucial to a city's ability to be competitive whilst supporting the wellbeing of its citizens. Poor planning is not only costly and time consuming, it can result in chronic stresses that weaken a city, like high unemployment and a lack of essential services, while worsening events like natural disasters. Over the past decade, digital technologies have transformed the way that people live, work and play - and yet, over the same period, the planning system has remained relatively unchanged. Today, planners are using 19th century governance and 20th centuy tools to tackle 21st century problems. This talk explores how urban planning could evolve over the coming years through the application of new practices and digital tools. It imagines a system of the future that is more user-friendly, more responsive to change, more informed by evidence, and more centred around the future needs and ideas of citizens.

The speaker

Euan Mills is the Urban Futures Lead at the Future Cities Catapult where, two years ago, he helped set up the Future of Planning programme. He has 16 years of experience working in the built environment industry, including six years providing design advice to the Mayor of London and his planning team, contributing towards a number of key planning policy and research documents and negotiating major development proposals on behalf of the Mayor. Prior to this, he worked as an urban designer at Urban initiatives, developing masterplans and regeneration strategies for public and private sector clients. He is visiting lecturer at a number of universities and is the author of numerous articles on the impact of technology on cities.