Tag Archives: Idox Information Service subscription

Supporting professional practice within planning … how the Knowledge Exchange helps

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wordle3By Morwen Johnson

The Idox Information Service has been offering an information service for planners and other built environment professionals for forty years. Our new individual subscription offer allows planners to benefit from our expertise and acess a wide range of resources for use in their work and continuing professional development.

Use of evidence within planning

“Research and theory can help to lift the perspective of practitioners beyond the day-to-day demands of the job, to provoke reflection and discussion about the wider social purposes and values of planning. It can also help us better to defend planning from those who would seek to erode it further.”

These words from Dr Mike Harris, Deputy Head of Policy and Research at the Royal Town Planning Institute, highlight the importance of ensuring that the planning profession is able to access and use evidence and research. Research is inherent to what it means to be a professional – to take informed, evidence-based decisions.

Barriers to the use of research

Like other professions, planners face barriers to keeping up with the latest evidence – most obviously lack of time and the accessibility of much research (both in terms of knowing it is out there and being able to understand how academic reserach relates to practice).

With resources in local planning authorities in particular likely to remain very tight, but with practitioners under more pressure to deliver than ever, the question is how can the profession retain and enhance the evidence base it needs to do its job effectively? And how can practitioners engage with the research and analysis on key developments in policy that affect planning, such as devolution, economic growth, sustainability and housing?

Cross-cutting issues

It was clear at this year’s RTPI Convention that the planning profession has a significant contribution to make to current policy priorities such as improving wellbeing, sustainability and economic growth. Understanding these wider debates and engaging with them effectively, in a way that positions planners as a solution to a problem rather than a barrier, is something that is crucial for the future of the profession.

Reflecting recently on this year’s Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) research conference, the RTPI’s Mike Harris suggested that “we urgently need the academic community to help us demonstrate how planning can produce better, more efficient markets for local development, in ways which promote growth and meet social and environmental objectives”.

New, exclusive offer for planners

In response to demand from planners to access research, evidence, opinion and commentary on both planning and wider cross-cutting issues, we have introduced a new individual membership offer to our Information Service, exclusively for RTPI Members.

Individual membership provides RTPI members with access to:

  • Searchable online database of planning research resources with over 200,000 records and with 10,000 new items added every year;
  • Free access to member-only briefings on key planning topics;
  • 50 current awareness bulletins per year;
  • Twice-monthly topic updates – choose from over 32 topics including planning, regeneration, economic development, management, architecture, transport and community development;
  • Free user support to help planners find and access the research they need;
  • Book loans and copyright material are available on request (subject to additional charges).

The annual subscription of £179 (plus VAT) represents a 30% saving on the cost of the normal rate for individuals.

We’re happy to be working with the RTPI to enhance professional knowledge and intelligence at a crucial time for planning, and we look forward to welcoming more RTPI members as subscribers to our service.

To find out more about what we cover, read our planning subject guide.

You can find out more about the offer for Institute members on the RTPI website.

Enhancing the evidence base for planners – Introducing an exclusive offer for RTPI members

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WebBy Rebecca Riley

As Dr Mike Harris, Deputy Head of Policy and Research at the Royal Town Planning Institute, wrote on the RTPI’s blog in April, defending and enhancing the profession so that planning can deliver the greatest possible value for society requires evidence and research. Research is inherent to what it means to be a professional – to take informed, evidence-based decisions. More broadly, it can help to lift the perspective of practitioners beyond the day-to-day demands of the job, to provoke reflection and discussion about the wider social purposes and values of planning.

However, we’re also keenly aware of the major barriers to practitioners keeping up with the latest evidence – most obviously lack of time and the accessibility of much research (literally so in the case of academic journals, most of which are kept behind paywalls, but also in terms of the digestibility of some academic research). With resources in local planning authorities in particular likely to remain very tight, but with practitioners under more pressure to deliver than ever, how can the profession retain and enhance the evidence base it needs to do its job effectively? And how can practitioners engage with the research and analysis on key developments in policy that affect planning, such as devolution, economic growth and competitiveness, and housing?

It’s in order to address these questions that the Idox Information Service is partnering with the Institute to provide an exclusive offer for RTPI members. In this blog I want briefly to introduce the service and how it can help planners.

40 years of expertise

The Idox Information Service is a membership library service which was established over forty years ago under its earlier name of the Planning Exchange. At the outset the emphasis was on the provision of resources to support professionals working in planning and the built environment, but we’ve expanded our subject coverage over the years to cover the whole spectrum of public sector information.

Our members include policymakers and practitioners from organisations including local authorities, central government, universities, think tanks, consultancies and charities. We recognise that they work in challenging environments and often need evidence to inform service delivery or decision-making.

Supporting professional practice and policy

Underlying our service is a commitment to evidence-based practice and policy-making. We care passionately about promoting the uptake of evidence and research by policymakers and practitioners. We also follow closely the current evidence-based policy agenda in the UK, encompassing initiatives such as the What Works network, the Local Government Knowledge Navigators and independent organisations such as the Alliance for Useful Evidence. These are working on fostering demand for evidence as well as linking up academics with those in the public sector to ensure that the research community is responsive to the needs of those making decisions and designing and delivering services.

New, exclusive offer for planners

As a result, we’re pleased to announce the launch of our new individual membership offer, which allows professionals to benefit from our expertise. Our skilled team of researchers can keep planners up to date with the latest research, policy developments and information on planning and planning- related topics. This allows members to keep their working knowledge relevant and current, and it also supports CPD.

The RTPI and Idox have come together to offer Institute members an exclusive rate of £179 (plus VAT) – a 30% saving off the cost of the normal rate for individuals. This has been developed in response to demand from planners to access the service on an individual basis.

Feedback from our subscribers consistently tells us that our service is used as part of their training and development; it supports them in writing and responding to policy; in keeping abreast of wider policy areas which affect planning; and helps them continuously improve their own practice through reading case studies, evaluations and the latest research in the field.

About the offer

Individual membership provides RTPI members with access to:

  • Searchable online database of planning research resources with over 200,000 records and with 10,000 new items added every year;
  • Free access to member-only briefings on key planning topics;
  • 50 current awareness bulletins per year;
  • Twice-monthly topic updates – choose from over 32 topics including planning, regeneration, economic development, management, architecture and transport;
  • Free user support to help planners find and access the research they need;
  • Book loans and copyright material are available on request (subject to additional charges).

To find out more about what we cover, read our planning subject guide.

You can find out more about the offer for Institute members on the RTPI website.

We’re happy to be working with the RTPI to enhance professional knowledge and intelligence at a crucial time for planning, and we look forward to welcoming more RTPI members as subscribers to our service.

The fall and rise of strategic planning

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Image from Flickr user Sebastian Niedlich, licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons License

Image from Flickr user Sebastian Niedlich, licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons License

By Morwen Johnson

Throughout the history of planning there has been a continuing morphing of ideas and practices – reflecting changing circumstances, fashions and understandings about the role of planning in a modern society. Now it seems that recent economic and investment constraints are leading to a rise in interest in strategic planning again within the UK.

Professor Greg Lloyd, in a recent piece in our journal Scottish Planning and Environmental Law, suggests that this builds on the experiences of land-use planning (a British notion) and spatial planning – drawing on an emergent tradition in European terms. It seems obvious that the challenges of economic growth, housing need and environmental improvement do not respect the arbitrary boundaries of local authorities, or the short-term lifecycles of our political systems. And yet the effective implementation of strategic planning practice remains elusive.

A recent RTPI policy paper advocated a strengthening of strategic planning to secure greater co-operation with respect to development and to facilitate city regions. This comes as local authorities are now required, under the Localism Act, to co-operate and take a lead on addressing issues that cross boundaries and impact on the ‘larger than local’ area.

Professor Lloyd points out that within Scotland, the emphasis on strategic planning has been more consistent over time, and formed the backbone of governance for land use and development within Scottish planning practice. Within the London context of course, the Mayor is responsible for London’s planning at a strategic level, as set out in the London Plan. And Janice Morphet, in a recent article, argued that planning is “fundamentally concerned with delivery, based on social economic and environmental principles” and the current shift in scale towards combined authorities and neighbourhoods may “herald a bright future” for strategic spatial planning.

Contemporary strategic planning is therefore under the spotlight as a delivery solution to complex problems. The RTPI suggests that done well, strategic planning offers an efficient process for responsive, deliberative, collaborative and accountable decision-making. However this requires the planning profession to demonstrate skills of analysis, interpretation, risk assessment and visioning of place, as well as community engagement and facilitation skills. It also raises potential conflict in terms of planner’s roles as employees working in the public interest, as opposed to advocates for communities.

Inevitably strategic planning requires trade-offs between different interests and stakeholders. But successfully negotiating these diverse interests is not something that happens by chance. And the planning profession needs to recognise the key role they play in mitigating these tensions. If we are to have planning systems which support quality placemaking and long-term sustainability (as well as economic growth), then process cannot be an end in itself. Planners should take this opportunity to provide leadership, and enable dialogue on strategic planning, at local, sub-regional and national level.

Further reading

New lexicons of planning. Greg Lloyd, Scottish Planning and Environmental Law, No 168 Apr (2015)

Strategic planning: a bright future ahead. Janice Morphet, Town and Country Planning, Vol 84 No 4 (2015)

Strategic planning: effective co-operation for planning across boundaries. Royal Town Planning Institute (2015)

The demise of strategic planning? The impact of the abolition of Regional Spatial Strategy in a growth region. Martin Boddy and Hannah Hickman, Town Planning Review, Vol 84 No 6 (2013)

If you are interested in research, opinion and comment on planning, we have launched a special subscription offer to the Idox Information Service for RTPI Members.