Plan-Tech era to be unveiled during London Tech Week

The exhibition will include prototypes from a selection of SMEs and Local Planning Authorities following Future Cities Catapult’s competition to develop new tools and innovations that will transform the planning system.

Attendees of Europe’s largest tech festival can visit the interactive installations between 12-16 June at the UK’s Urban Innovation Centre in Clerkenwell. In addition, Future Cities Catapult have curated a free series of PlanTech lectures and networking events debating and showcasing how technology can improve the planning system.

With cities becoming under more strain than ever before, there’s never been a greater need for efficient and predictive planning. UK cities cover only 8% of the UK’s landmass, but account for 54% of its population, and the UK’s four biggest cities (London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow) are home to almost a quarter (24.3%) of the population.

Nicola Yates, CEO of Future Cities Catapult said: “In an age of rapid urban growth and expansion, planning is crucial to a city's competitiveness, as well as its ability to support the wellbeing of its citizens. However, complex language, outdated processes, and political interests make the planning process time-consuming, expensive and obscure to outsiders.

“We started our Future of Planning project to explore ideas and technologies to create a more transparent, data driven and digitally enabled planning system. We’re incredibly excited to be launching this exhibition during London Tech Week and I encourage anyone interested in the the growing PlanTech revolution to come along to our events.”

Stefan Webb, Head of Projects at Future Cities Catapult said: “The planning system often gets blamed for many of the challenges cities face; lack of affordable housing, poorly designed places and citizens resisting new development. But the system isn’t broken, it just needs upgrading.

“During London Tech Week, we’ll be showcasing the emerging technologies, innovations and visions that are transforming the way we plan our cities. Visitors can explore the growing momentum of PlanTech and the opportunities it brings to citizens, startups, planning authorities and corporations.”

Chris Brown, CEO of Igloo Regeneration said: “Over the last 15 years, information communication technologies have fundamentally changed how we live our lives. Yet the planning system is still firmly stuck in the 20th century.

“As a developer, we have to generate an enormous amount of data but most of this has to be dumbed down to fit with an analogue planning system. The wave of planning technologies that Future Cities Catapult is unveiling demonstrates that PlanTech has huge potential to change the planning industry.”

Since October 2016, Future Cities Catapult have been working with SMEs, planning authorities and the market to explore how digital innovation, urban data, and user-centred design can improve the UK planning system.

Through their work they’ve experimented with technologies such as machine learning, augmented reality and the Internet of Things (IoT), to discover how it improve the efficiency of planning and transform how citizens engage with the planning system.