Barbora Melis is an adjunct professor at the New York Institute of Technology's School of Architecture and Design. She is also a Phd Candidate at the University of Portsmouth.
Tom Walsh is a Chartered Planner who specialises in healthy cities through adaptation to climate change, housing supply and the energy transition. His career has allowed him to work in Europe, Australia, south east Asia and currently practices in Texas.
The RTPI across the pond
Any town planner, who has taken the leap to changing planning systems, either within the UK or outside it, understands that it can be daunting to reestablish your knowledge base, professional competencies and network. In essence you are starting afresh. As daunting as this is, the transition can be made easier through the support of the RTPI.
In the autumn of 2024 the RTPI's international team connected Barbora Melis and Tom Walsh. Tom was relocating from London to Houston and sought to establish a professional network in planning. Barbora was in the process of applying for her RTPI Associate membership and sought support on that journey. Having benefited from the RTPI's mentoring programme Tom understood the benefit of support on the journey to RTPI membership. If you are interested in mentoring or would like to be a mentee our mentoring platform is available to all members globally.
International Principles of Planning
Over the course of a number of zoom meetings, between New York and Houston, both benefited through an exchange of experience, ideas and understanding that the principles of good planning, and UK experience, are readily transferable to North America. As a result of this connection both recently represented the RTPI at the symposium event "Future of Cities: Envisioning Future HealthScapes" at the United Nations headquarters as part of the 10th United Nations Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation.
The symposium was hosted by the New York Tech School of Architecture & Design, in collaboration with the Consulate General of Denmark New York.
Barbora Melis and Tom Walsh at the United Nations in New York
Planning and the delivery of the UNSDGs
As part of the event, New York Institute of Technology faculty led workshop sessions involving invited local and international guests of practitioners, academics, researchers, and public servants to discuss the interdependency between health and design as well as the impact of environmental issues on health inequities, closely connected to the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals.
The workshops covered: Holistic Approaches to Health in Design Education, Collaborative Strategies for Future Healthscapes, Innovative Pedagogies for Sustainable Urban Futures and Advancing Sustainable and Regenerative Circular Construction Practices. Each workshop asked participants to consider how such paradigms would enable progress towards delivering the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
There was a collaborative and inquisitive atmosphere during the symposium amongst the participants, coupled with an eagerness to share and learn new ideas and principles. A wide range of professional disciplines took part in the workshops; from those promoting active travel integration in cities and buildings to demonstrating adaptation strategies to climate change.
Common cause
What became apparent through the workshops and the conversations they sparked, was the need for unifying policies and plans which could help deliver these ambitious strategies and therefore Sustainable Development Goals themselves. In essence the principles of good planning are the same regardless of where you are located.
In a North American context Comprehensive Plans and City Ordinances, what in the UK would be Local Plan and planning regulations, are the key mechanisms to aid the delivery of healthier and more resilient cities which are pillars of good planning.
Your network matters
What began as relaxed conversations between two planners seeking to reestablish their network, after moving across the pond, has culminated with an opportunity to help input into policy development at the international level.
So to any planners relocating outside the UK, or moving to the UK, it is well worth reaching out the RTPI team. You never know where it may take you.
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