Are you a winner?

The Commonwealth Association of Planners annual Awards for Outstanding Planning Practice are now open for 2022 entries.

The Commonwealth Association of Planners (CAP) invites entries for its Awards for Outstanding Planning Practice in the Commonwealth. The deadline for submission is 22 August 2022. Full details, including how to enter, can be found here.

There are five man categories for which entries are invited:

• Planning for the climate emergency / move to net zero;
• Planning for cities and human settlements / plan-making;
• Planning for equitable and incusive cities and human settlements;
• Planning in response to natural or technological disasters;
• Planning for the conservation of the built and natural environment and cultural heritage.

The entry process is not arduous, however, entrants MUST address the criteria for the awards. In particular, it is essential, regardless of category, to show explicitly how your plan or project advances progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, and not least the ‚urban‘ Goal 11, which seeks to ‚Make cities and human settlements safe, inclusive, resilient and sustainable.‘

There have been strong entries over the years, notably from New Zealand and from Canada. In 2021, an eco-innovation project from Melaka in Malaysia won the Climate Emergency category for the creation of a flood management system that used smart technology to provide fast information to communities. Another Malaysian water-focused project, the Skudi River Rejuvenation Plan, won the Plan-Making award. The Te Whaihanga project from New Zealand, a system for training planners to work with Maori, topped the Inclusive Cities entries. Malaysia and New Zealand also won the remaining two categories, for a community farming project and for an ‚Urban Eels‘ project in Palmerston North.

Declaration of interest – I am one of the judges for the ‚Equitable and Inclusive‘ and the ‚Conservation‘ categories. With my fellow judges I encourage planners across the Commonwealth who have a good story to tell to consider submitting an entry.