

Core CPD Framework:
- Digital Planning
- Championing Planning
- Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Professional Ethics
- Housing
- 1 CPD Hours
Event Description
The session background and focus:
Digital Planning offers a great opportunity to planning practice and local authorities’ work and has increasingly been emphasised as a necessary path to facilitate, improve and effectivise plan-making, public engagement and development management. The UK Government has emphasised the need to shift to digital planning, prompting local authorities to adopt new digital planning methods. This is particularly important with the introduction of mandatory housing targets, a new 30 month local plan period and a persistent shortage of planning skills. Digitalisation offers a great tool for planners to deliver suitable, sustainable development opportunities for their communities.
Digital Planning involves the use of new technologies to facilitate planning processes through various digital tools and platforms that enable the storage, organisation, access, compilation, and processing of complex datasets. It allows the use of data analytics to address complex challenges facing local authorities, such as housing and infrastructure needs, as well as climate risks. It enables a holistic overview of planning processes, collaborations, and resources and supports evidence-based decision-making, putting smart project management tools in the hands of local authorities. Recent advancements in AI-powered software and platforms lay the groundwork for more intelligent city planning. However, the true benefit of digital planning relies on human intelligence, oversight, compassion and professional competence.
The session focus
The session, delivered by expert speakers from Urban Intelligence and PlanningHub will touch on different aspects related to the use and benefit of digital planning in the Local Plan Review Process, addressing the following aspects:
- Introduction to digital planning principles and tools, and their diverse applications.
- Use of digital planning to create a holistic overview of the planning process, collaboration, stakeholder interactions, resources and planning workflows for more cohesive plans.
- How digital planning supports data-driven priority-setting, decision-making, assessment of development scenarios and strategies, and creation of solutions.
- How digital planning supports interactive consultations and community engagement, and contributes to the optimisation of time and resources through for example, provision of consultation summaries and the consolidation of representations received in multiple formats from the public.
- Ways digital planning / AI helps accelerate housing delivery, assess infrastructure capacity and develop indications on different combinations of infrastructure.
- Use of digital planning in site-specific analysis, site identification and capacity assessment, site planning, feasibility, and priority-setting, and alignment of projects with suitable sites.
- Challenges to implementing the tools, accuracy, transparency, ethics, and staff capacity and leadership.
The event in context:
The event is one in a series of reflective and technical planning events envisaged by the CPD Committee under the RTPI London Regional Management Board to address crucial and timely issues in planning and sustainability. This includes the new planning reforms and the role of strategic planning, empowering community engagement and impact in city adaptations and renewal, and innovation in planning processes with a focus on the role of digitalisation in ensuring more synergy and value in the local planning review processes.
The session in context:
The session is one in a series of reflective and technical planning events envisaged by the CPD Committee under the RTPI London RMB to address crucial and timely issues in planning and sustainability. This includes the new planning re-forms and the role of strategic planning, empowering community engagement and impact in city adaptations and renewal, and innovation in planning process-es with a focus on the role of digital planning in ensuring more synergy and val-ue in the local planning review processes.
The event targets planners while open for other built environment professionals. It supports RTPI mission for championing the power of planning in creating prosperous places and vibrant communities.
Learning outcomes
Learning outcomes as a result of participation include:
- Understand digital planning principles and tools, with an awareness of their varied and evolving applications.
- Identify the range of benefits digital planning offers the local plan review, including a comprehensive overview of the planning process, streamlined workflows, support in priority setting and improved data-informed decision-making.
- Knowledge of digital tools’ approach to site-specific analysis and site capacity assessments, supporting quicker and more accurate appraisals of development potential.
- Knowledge of the role of digital technologies in enhancing public consultation and community engagement through interactive, accessible platforms, contributing to improved use of time and resources.
- Understand how digital planning and emerging technologies can support accelerated housing delivery, infrastructure capacity assessment, and scenario testing for different infrastructure combinations.
- Develop a reflective and critical approach to digital planning, acknowledging its opportunities and limitations and recognising the importance of ethical considerations, capacity building, and the need for values-led, human-centred leadership in planning practice.
Programme
- Introducing the event and the speakers (3 min)
- Presentation by Urban Intelligence (30 min) (Title TBC)
- Presentation by PlanningHub (30 min)
- Break (10 min)
Speakers

Ewa Moskwiak
CEO and co-founder of PlanningHub

Ewa Moskwiak
CEO and co-founder of PlanningHub
Ewa Moskwiak is a RIBA Chartered Architect, CEO and co-founder of PlanningHub, an AI-driven platform transforming the UK planning landscape. With over 20 years of experience in architecture, property investment and urban development, Ewa brings deep practical insight into the challenges of planning feasibility and securing planning permissions. This experience directly informs her leadership at PlanningHub, where she is driving the application of Large Language Models (LLMs) to streamline planning workflows and provide instant, site-specific analysis. Named in The Planner's Women of Influence 2025, Ewa champions the use of technology to empower more efficient, data-driven decision-making across the planning sector.

Prof. Dr. Harald Braun
CTO and co-founder of PlanningHub

Prof. Dr. Harald Braun
CTO and co-founder of PlanningHub
Prof. Dr. Harald Braun is CTO and co-founder of PlanningHub, bringing over 30 years of experience in AI and software innovation across the NHS, private sector, and public institutions. A former lecturer at City University London and Professor at the University of Chester, Harald has developed cutting-edge artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions since the 1990s. His expertise in complex datasets, AI quality standards (ISO 13485, ISO 42001), and ethical AI underpins his leadership in delivering transformative tools for the planning sector. A serial tech entrepreneur, he champions practical learning and scalable AI adoption.

Josh Hoare-Matthews
Associate Director at Urban Intelligence

Josh Hoare-Matthews
Associate Director at Urban Intelligence
Josh Hoare-Matthews is a Planner by background. Josh is responsible for ensuring that the digital planning tools developed at Urban Intelligence provide real value to council Planning Officers up and down the country. His role involves deeply understanding the current and future needs of Planners and the ever evolving planning policy landscape. Working with Planners, Developers and Data Scientists, he ensures the work of Urban Intelligence empowers officers to increase the efficiency and accuracy of Local Plan reviews and drive digital innovation within planning. Alongside this, Josh is an advocate for equipping planners with digital skills and regularly engages with Planners through webinars, events and workshops on Digital Planning.
Hosts

Urban Intelligence

Urban Intelligence
Urban Intelligence develops purpose-built digital tools for Local Plan reviews and place making, and have been driving digital transformation in planning for over a decade. They're on a mission to empower Planners to build sustainable places and understand their communities better than ever before - harnessing the power of data and technology.
Their digital Local Plan platform, PlaceMaker, has been designed by Planners for Planners - developed in collaboration with councils across the UK. It offers Planners a centralised database for all their sites as well as integrated engagement tools - empowering every planner to make streamlined, data-driven decisions.

PlanningHub

PlanningHub
PlanningHub is an AI-powered platform transforming how planning professionals research and assess development potential at the site level. Designed with input from architects, planners, LPAs and technologists, it streamlines the early stages of planning by delivering instant, site-specific insights drawn from thousands of policy documents, GIS layers, and planning records. In this CPD session, we’ll explore the art of the possible—showcasing current capabilities in planning research automation—and look ahead to how AI can support decision-making and policy analysis.