A year on - Digital planning innovation, AI and consultation

Simon is a journalist and the Editor of The Planner, the RTPI's member magazine. Over the years, his work has seen him reporting on parish council meetings, planning committees and a murder trial; mentoring young journalists from inner cities; interviewing Kosovan refugee children in Serbia and village kids in Tanzania; ghostwriting the autobiography of a successful immigrant entrepreneur; and interviewing influential figures in UK planning. He believes everyone has a story to tell and specialises in helping them to tell it.

Mick has decades of experience in geospatial leadership, is an Honorary Professor of Geography, and is a recognised leader in the geospatial industry. He currently serves as a Business Development Specialist (Geospatial) at Nottingham City Council and is a Director of the Association for Geographic Information (AGI) and Chair of the AGI 3D Network.

A strong advocate for 2D and 3D geospatial adoption and development, he actively promotes strategic collaboration, knowledge exchange, and capacity building within partnership settings. A key area of interest is how urban digital twins can help improve efficiency, sustainability, and quality of urban life, ultimately leading to a more holistic understanding of the environment in which we live and work

Bio coming soon.

Prof. Alexander Lord is the Lever Chair of Urban and Regional Planning in the Department of Geography and Planningat the University of Liverpool. He works on the economic effects of urban and environmental planning and has led numerous research projects for a wide range of funders including, the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy, the Economic and Social Research Council, the UK Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities, the Department for Transport, the Royal Town Planning Institute and the homelessness charity, Shelter. In addition to his post at Liverpool, Alex is a visiting professor at the Pantheon Sorbonne in Paris.

Harvey Robson is a GIS and Data Integrations Officer from Gateshead Council working in a service improvements role that covers planning.
After completing a degree in GIS from Newcastle University, Harvey joined Gateshead Council as a Student GIS Officer in the Spatial Planning team where he got experience of using digital skills in the planning world and was introduced to the Open Digital Planning Project (ODP). Once his initial contract had finished, he was brought into his current position where he is implementing digital solutions to bring overall service improvements and wider involvement on the ODP project. Using the technical knowledge learned both from University and on the job experience, he has implemented a number of new digital solutions for improve efficiency to both external and internal stakeholders.

Jos is the co-founder and managing director of Landstack. An AI powered land and planning platform that helps people find, evaluate, buy and sell land. Jos has a background and degree in computer science and has been building Landstack since 2019.

Nissa is a chartered planner and an expert in digital transformation and innovation within the planning, development and built environment field. She has spent the last decade of her career working across private, public and third sectors to push for the adoption of data-driven and technologically advanced planning processes. Her work focuses on using technology and data to increase a true representation of place-making needs alongside making it easier for those working in planning to make informed decisions. She strives to ensure that the local planning process meets the needs of its varied users by using the best of digital solutions available.

Ewa Moskwiak is a chartered architect and planner, leading PlanningHub’s vision to simplify and modernise planning and development workflows. She focuses on removing friction from time-consuming processes in development management and site assessments.

With both technical expertise and hands-on experience as an architect, planner, property investor, and developer, Ewa brings a practical, real-world perspective to the challenges facing the industry.
This insight shapes PlanningHub’s AI-powered tools, designed to help users move faster, make better decisions, and unlock opportunities with confidence.

Grace is a planning solicitor and has experience across the stages of a development's planning lifecycle. She has an environmental science and management background and applies this knowledge to support clients to manage the environmental impacts of development. She also uses her science background to leverage new technologies like AI within her practice at Dentons. She was shortlisted by the UK Proptech Association as Rising Star for 2023 for her work at Dentons to launch the first client-secure AI large language model tool for legal work. Grace attended the One Young World 2024 Summit in Montreal to contribute to ideas, challenges, and solutions to make AI a force for good; as a One Young World Ambassador, she is focused on the ethical use and governance of traditional and generative AI.

Gary Priestnall is an Associate Professor within the School of Geography, the University of Nottingham. His research focuses on digital geographic representation, using a range of technologies including virtual and augmented realities and location-aware mobile devices. He has been developing and evaluating the Projection Augmented Relief Model (PARM) technique since 2010, which projects spatial data down onto 3D printed landscape models to support spatial thinking and decision making. Most recently the Nottingham City PARM won the British Cartographic Society’s trophy for ‘Map of the Year’ in 2024. Working with Nottingham City Council and Bradford Metropolitan District Council, through MHCLG Proptech funding, he has led the creation of a playbook to help local authorities explore this technology to support their activities.