TCPA Chief Executive joins The Bartlett School of Planning

Kate Henderson, Chief Executive of the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) has been appointed as a Visiting Professor at The Bartlett School of Planning.

Kate Henderson, who was appointed Chief Executive of the TCPA in 2010, has been responsible for raising the profile of the association through a number of campaigns and initiatives, including the TCPA-led Garden Cities and Suburbs Expert Group, and the New Communities Group. In 2013, she co-wrote Planning out Poverty with the Webb Memorial Trust, exploring how planning could be more effective in dealing with social exclusion.

Commenting on the announcement, Head of School, Professor Nick Gallent said: “Kate Henderson is a passionate advocate of the power of planning to support communities and change lives. I am extremely pleased that she has accepted the invitation to become a Visiting Professor at The Bartlett School of Planning. I am sure that with her passion for the subject, she will help us inspire the next generation of professionals to see planning, at all levels, as a positive force for change."

Kate, a UCL alumna, said: “The Bartlett School of Planning at UCL is an internationally renowned centre of excellence in research, teaching, policy and practice and I am absolutely thrilled and honoured to have been appointed Visiting Professor.

“It is essential that planning policy and practice builds on leading-edge academic research to shape how and where we will live in the 21st century. We need robust evidence and understanding, developed by academic institutions such as The Bartlett, to inform how planning can better respond to people’s needs and aspirations and tackle the key issues facing society today, such as the chronic shortage of housing and the impact of climate change.

“I am looking forward to having creative, challenging and inspiring discussions with staff and students at The Bartlett about how to shape and advocate planning policies that put social justice and the environment at the heart of the debate.”

Kate will continue to lead the TCPA as Chief Executive and take up her activities as Visiting Professor at The Bartlett School of Planning when she returns from maternity leave in July 2014.