International strategy

"By 2030, RTPI members will have formed, convened and supported inclusive internationally focussed groups giving decisive contributions to fair and inclusive global sustainable development, and promoting planning as a key component in the solutions to rapid urbanisation and climate change."

The RTPI promotes excellence in planning globally, empowers members to influence global policy, and supports society to achieve a democratically accountable and inclusive planning practice fit for the information age everywhere.

Internationalisation will be delivered through co-ordinated action across the existing RTPI services and by expanding the RTPI offer with new ones.

Meeting global challenges relies on collaboration. The RTPI International Strategy will be delivered through co-operation and global partnerships, by enhancing ideas exchange, the accessibility to planning skills and knowledge, via collaborative and inclusive research, as well as dedicated campaigning and inclusive advocacy efforts.

These strands of work have been grouped into the following four pillars, with a high-level objective specifying the aims to be achieved in each of them.

1. Pillar one - Promote the value of membership internationally.
   
   Objective one - Enhance the value of RTPI membership internationally, including developing partnerships with relevant local actors internationally (professional associations of planning, planning schools, public sector, private sector, national and local governments, planning bodies, third sector etc.) and global actors (networks of city diplomacy, third sector, international development agencies etc.).
   
   
2. Pillar two - Support planning knowledge and practice internationally.
   
   Objective one - Enhance the global presence of the RTPI as an organisation promoting excellence in global planning knowledge, CPD, professional skills and practice, and supporting other organisations’ efforts in this area.
   
   
3. Pillar three - Raise the profile of planning for global challenges.
   
   Objective three - Increase the international reach and the influence of RTPI research, through the engagement with relevant governmental, non-governmental and multilateral organisations, including via tailored and collaborative communications campaigns.
   
   
4. Pillar four - Diversity and inclusivity through internationalisation.
   
   Objective four - Ensure that the internationalisation of the RTPI increases the diversity and inclusivity of our membership so that our action is shaped by a diversity of voices, ideas and approaches with policy and practice reflecting the aspirations of the communities planning serves.

Planners around the world are dynamic, responding to new challenges, developing and adapting to new theories and methodologies. Communities that can benefit most from good planning have urgent and pressing needs, particularly where access to planning skills and services can be constrained or is unavailable.

Internationally, the value of RTPI membership rests on the ability of the Institute to make planners heard in national and global arenas as an authoritative voice speaking in the public interest thanks to the RTPI principles of openness, transparency, independence and strong professional standards. These specific characteristics represent the core values of RTPI membership and can enhance planners’ relevance everywhere.

The RTPI International Strategy promotes them as an avenue to not only attract new members, but to support and retain existing ones. It also aims at enhancing planning knowledge through mutual learning and to make better planning available where it is most needed by supporting members in being heard and in sharing their expertise with others through equal partnerships.

Besides these core values, RTPI membership will also provide tangible benefits and services internationally, including mutual recognition agreements, guidance and support through publications, all of which offer opportunities for members based in the UK and Ireland to learn from relevant planning policy and practice overseas through the exchange of knowledge, regardless of where they are based, fostering South-South co-operation as well as learning across the Global South and North.

The value of RTPI membership will be shaped in a dialogue with the multilateral organisations with which the Institute engages, the other built environment professions, the RTPI accredited planning schools and the global planning organisations of which we are members, and across the private and public sector. This will ensure that planning is tailored to the needs of different contexts and communities and focusses on advancing the public interest everywhere.

This will be achieved by:

• supporting an understanding of what drives value for members internationally and where the promotion of the value of RTPI membership can have the strongest impact;
  
  
• assessing which classes of membership would have an impact on global planning policy and practice, and appeal to potential RTPI members globally, with a focus on the role of the Associate, Affiliate and Fellow classes of membership besides that of Chartered Planner, in making planning more inclusive;
  
  
• identifying planning courses in currently accredited schools that have a global focus for review and assessment through existing RTPI partnership boards and within existing capacity which could offer the opportunity and potential for increasing international membership;
  
  
• ensuring that a global perspective is considered when the plans to promote and communicate the value of membership are adopted by the Institute;
  
  
• offering relevant and tailored member services which are suited to members based or working internationally, including the means and opportunities to influence policy, share knowledge and learn from best practice.

Outcomes:

• Planning and planners are recognised at the highest level as well as in local contexts internationally as key to fair and inclusive solutions to global challenges.
  
  
• The RTPI is a trusted partner and is consulted by key national and international stakeholders working on global development and climate change.
  
  
• Members working and based internationally are actively engaging with the institute, feel valued and see the RTPI as a platform to have their voice heard and influence global and national processes.
  
  
• Members working and based internationally are connected to each other and are seen as influential and authoritative by the communities they serve and the stakeholders they work with.
  
  
• Members working or based internationally grow together with their level of engagement with the Institute and are incentivised and enabled to share knowledge with each other.
  
  
• Employers and organisations working in global development and urbanisation recognise and require RTPI or other local professional planning qualifications to ensure high professional standards.

Planning knowledge should be context-relevant, up-to-date and focussed on advancing fair, sustainable and inclusive outcomes globally through equal partnerships and mutual learning. The RTPI International Strategy identifies, as a priority objective, supporting the production and dissemination of critical, original and sound planning knowledge to inform global practice and policy internationally. Planning is recognised as a pivotal issue in global policy and as an avenue to address global challenges, starting with the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

This objective will be supported by establishing strong links with global higher education institutions, other planning organisations and research institutions that have rapid urbanisation and global development in their remit, and by engaging with civil society and governmental organisations. This entails both engaging with, and exploring accreditation of, new overseas planning schools - where this supports the wider objectives of this strategy - and renewing our dialogue with existing RTPI accredited planning schools so that the Institute can be a key partner for them to promote, shape, share and ensure impact for their research via the Institute’s membership in global platforms and organisations.

Better evidence is needed to demonstrate the key role of planning in addressing climate change, rapid urbanisation and global development. The Institute will use its internationally renowned journal Planning Theory and Practice as an avenue to help shape the debate on the role of planning in addressing these challenges. The RTPI Research Programme will include commissioning original and impact-orientated research exploring both traditional and emerging global planning issues, while our UK and Ireland focussed research and RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence will contribute to advancing international agreements by sharing and promoting UK and international best practice.

The RTPI will ensure that members have the tools to understand the global implications of their work for climate change and global sustainable development.

The RTPI will continue to work to serve the needs of all its members, including those based or working internationally, with access to professional and practical training and CPD activities appropriate for their continuous professional development needs and support them in finding planning-led solutions to global challenges.

Through partnerships and collaborations, we will conduct, facilitate and support initiatives that develop planning skills and evidence and make them available to local stakeholders, particularly where planning capacity is limited.

This will be achieved by:

• positioning the Institute as a provider and partner for research into planning issues for global development;
  
  
• including in the new RTPI research programme a specific international component, and ensuring that research with a UK and Ireland focus addresses global issues, and that learning from international contexts informs planning policy and practice in the UK and Ireland;
  
  
• forging partnerships with HE institutions, research institutions and international civil society and non-governmental organisations to commission, co-produce and promote planning knowledge for global challenges;
  
  
• ensuring members working or based internationally have access to context-relevant planning knowledge and CPD opportunities provided by the Institute or in partnership with others;
  
  
• linking RTPI accredited planning schools to internationally focussed groups and the global planning communities with which the RTPI has links;
  
  
• offering RTPI accredited planning schools opportunities to influence global policy through the RTPI participation in global conferences and summits and via our engagement with global stakeholders;
  
  
• engaging with research providers and institutions internationally, including RTPI accredited planning schools, to fund and co-produce original and innovative pieces of research.

Outcomes:

• The RTPI Learn online platform and RTPI Training programme are key references for members working or based internationally and other stakeholders.
  
  
• Existing and potential new RTPI accredited planning schools see the Institute as a key partner in the production and dissemination of planning knowledge.
  
  
• All internationally focussed groups have strong links with academia and key research institutions.
  
  
• RTPI accredited planning schools with a global development focus have a direct link with RTPI internationally focussed groups which support them in achieving impact for their research.
  
  
• The RTPI informs its campaigning and research objectives in a close dialogue with key stakeholders with reporting mechanisms to the International Committee.
  
  
• Key regional and international multilateral organisation refer to planning and the RTPI itself and use planning evidence as part of their strategies to address global challenges.
  
  
• Evidence produced by the RTPI and our partners is used to scrutinise government action and inform policy.
  
  
• The RTPI supports or delivers capacity building for planning overseas in places that are critically lacking planning capacity.
  
  
• Employers globally recognise the membership of the RTPI as a guarantee of professional competence and ethics and see it as an avenue to guarantee and develop the skills of their workforce, particularly for global challenges.

Global planners’ voices need to be heard for planning to advance the public interest and influence global processes. The RTPI International Strategy identifies, as a priority objective, establishing planning as a key avenue to achieving global sustainable development by structuring a coherent, evidence-based narrative that global stakeholders can refer to and adopt in order to call for sound, democratically participated and accountable planning policy and practice everywhere.

The status of the RTPI as a learned society and as the body setting and upholding professional and educational standards in the UK and Ireland underpins our authoritativeness and reputation. High-level advocacy will be the main vehicle to raise the profile of the profession across the public, private and third sectors at all levels, from local and national governments to multilateral organisations. The RTPI will build on its partnership with multilateral organisations, such as UN-Habitat, and with diplomacy efforts, such as the adoption of SDG11 as part of the UN Resolution 70/1 “Agenda 2030”, to strengthen its position as a global advocate of planning-led solutions to global challenges.

This will draw on the excellence in planning practice built by the RTPI in serving the public interest in the UK during its long history since 1914, as well as on the expertise of members based and working overseas.

This will be supported by dedicated marketing and campaigning efforts across our social media channels and publications, and in our engagement with British parliamentary affairs through new ad-hoc campaigns that promote planning for global sustainable development and global climate action.

The current global campaign for better planning services everywhere held every 8th November on World Town Planning Day will be enhanced. This will include giving international resonance to the RTPI efforts to promote the value of the profession to children and young people in alignment with our annual World Town Planning Day schools competition and engagement with accredited planning schools across the world.

This will be achieved by:

• supporting and delivering advocacy and communications campaigns directed to key stakeholders that promote planning as a part of the solution to global challenges;
  
  
• engaging with the appropriate Government departments in the UK and Ireland responsible for foreign and aid policy;
  
  
• playing an active role in promoting excellence in planning through international platforms, such as the UN-Habitat convened platforms Planners for Climate Action or the World Urban Campaign;
  
  
• strengthening our relations with international planning organisations to support mutual efforts and advocacy;
  
  
• approaching key international platforms where the RTPI can provide insights and support in addressing emerging global challenges;
  
  
• continuing to lead and increasing the influence of the World Town Planning Day campaign;
  
  
• conducting new impactful advocacy campaigns based on original evidence.

Outcomes:

• Key global stakeholders engage with the World Town Planning Day campaign with the RTPI playing a key role in designing its messaging and coordinating it.
  
  
• The RTPI is consulted and advises government and international organisations on the design and delivery of programmes addressing global challenges through planning.
  
  
• The RTPI, in alignment and coordination with others, delivers new focussed campaigns promoting planning’s role in effective climate action and delivering sustainable development.

Planners around the world are increasingly engaging and co-producing plans and strategies with diverse stakeholders and using local knowledge to address climate change and foster inclusive development. For planning to achieve fair outcomes that leave no one behind, it is key that the planning profession is inclusive and representative of the communities it caters for, that planning knowledge is fit to respond to their needs and used to enhance representation and equality.

The RTPI International Strategy recognises increasing the diversity of our membership through internationalisation as an opportunity in the implementation of the RTPI Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity Action Plan (EDI).

The EDI Action Plan core areas of Education, Leadership and Culture, and Attract and Retain a Diverse Talent will encourage a diverse planning knowledge, education and membership, which will help to shape the future of the profession in the UK and Ireland and globally.

The promotion of diversity, equality and inclusivity will inform how planning knowledge is produced and disseminated, increasing the legitimacy and relevance of the ideas that inform planning everywhere.

The RTPI will engage a diversity of voices in shaping planning knowledge and practice, irrespective of social, cultural or other background, so that these reflect the diversity of the communities planning is meant to serve. This will strengthen planning’s legitimacy in advocating for the changes needed to put the world on a path of sustainability.

This will be achieved by:

• ensuring that the delivery of the EDI Action Plan takes into full consideration the internationalisation of the RTPI as a key opportunity to increase the equality, diversity and inclusivity of our membership and of planning knowledge and practice;
  
  
• engaging global members in the implementation strategies and programmes of the EDI Action Plan in the relevant core areas.

Outcomes:

• A diverse global membership actively contributes and engages with the RTPI in implementing the transformative change needed in the profession and informing its position on global development and climate action.
  
  
• Members working or based internationally are diverse, represent the communities they serve and are fairly represented at all levels in the governance and representation system of the Institute.
  
  
• RTPI global development and climate change advocacy is informed by the knowledge and expertise of our global members.
  
  
• The planning profession is diverse and inclusive and planning practice and policy is reflective of this and draws upon a diversity of expertise and planning ideas fostering mutual learning and collaboration globally – with South-South exchanges and across the Global South and North.