“Planners are society’s humanisers”: The expectations and motivations of 21st century planning students
In this session, Hannah Hickman (Assoc Prof of Planning Practice at the University of the West of England) will deliver her seminar “Planners are society’s humanisers”: The expectations and motivations of 21st century planning students, hosted by the Urban Retrofit project.
Social Sciences Hub
Date: Thursday 23 April 2026
Time: 15:30 - 17:00
Venue: Room 210 (Planning Studio), 42 Bute Gardens
Category: Staff workshops and seminars, Academic events
Speaker: Hannah Hickman (Assoc Prof of Planning Practice)
This seminar will discuss the first large-scale survey of planning students in RTPI‑accredited schools in the UK and Ireland. The survey explores their motivations for studying planning and their aspirations for future practice. It reveals planning students to be highly intrinsically motivated, with a clear desire to bring about change – particularly regarding environmental issues. This appears to represent a shift from previously reported motivations, in which public service and issues of social justice predominated.
These findings are significant for planning education, both in terms of how curriculum design can nurture student motivation, and for planning practice, given the implications of a diminished emphasis on public service for planning outcomes. The findings also highlight the need for new theories of motivation in planning – ones that reflect shifting society and practice, and that account for strong environmental motivation. Such theories might align with what we term “collective stewardship motivation” or “civic‑ecological motivation,” encompassing a desire to serve both communities and the environments in which they live.
Speaker
Hannah Hickman is Associate Professor of Planning Practice at the University of the West of England. She joined academia from practice in 2017 after a career involving leadership roles in both the public and private sectors as a professional town planner, latterly as Assistant Director of the Government Office for the South West until 2009. She is passionate about the value of research in achieving change in policy and practice and was selected as The Planner’s “Women of Influence 2022: Academia”. She is chartered member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), Chair of RTPI’s Partnership and Accreditation Panel, Chair of the University of Cape Town RTPI Partnership Board, and a UK representative on the Association of European Schools of Planning.
She is an experienced qualitative researcher, and her most recent research projects have included: ‘the role of local planning authorities in delivering brownfield land’ (for the Planning Advisory Service); ‘improving post-planning processes to deliver better places’ (for the West of England Combined Authority and winner of the 2021 RTPI Sir Peter Hall Award for Research Excellence); ‘project-hindsight: post-decision implementation’ (for the National Infrastructure Planning Association and winner of the 2024 RTPI Sir Peter Hall Award for Research Excellence); and ‘strategic planning, current practice future directions’ (for the Royal Town Planning Institute). She is currently a co-investigator on the ESRC funded URBAN RETROFIT project looking at interventions in the existing built environment to meet carbon net-zero and led by the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence at the University of Glasgow.