Column 7, originally published in Planning Resource December 2019: https://www.planningresource.co.uk/article/1668586/planning-needs-federated-geospatial-mapping-service-euan-mills Whilst planning today is done mostly at local level there will always be a need to exchange information between national and regional bodies. …

Column 6, Originally published in Planning Resource November 2019: https://www.planningresource.co.uk/article/1665082/produce-local-plan-digital-era-euan-mills Local plans are meant to be the backbone of our “plan-led” planning system. …

Column 4, originally published in Planning Resource September 2019: https://www.planningresource.co.uk/article/1649752/dont-learn-use-technology-better-job-others-will-euan-mills You’d be hard-pressed not to have come across the term ‘PlanTech’ at some point over the past few months. You might have heard it being used by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s digital land policy team, the…

Column 3, Originally published in Planning Resource August 2019: https://www.planningresource.co.uk/article/1593991/unlocking-value-planning-data-euan-mills Planning authorities are sitting on a wealth of valuable data locked away in planning documents. Now they need to learn how to make use of a resource that’s entirely in their control. “Data is the most valuable asset on Earth,”…

Column 5, originally printed in Planning Resource in October 2019: https://www.planningresource.co.uk/article/1662106/urban-design-elite-needs-better-use-data-euan-mills Architecture and design are often misconstrued as being the most subjective areas in the shaping of the built environment. Finding consensus on what ‘good looks like’ has always been challenging Whenever I talk about the potential to use algorithms…

Column 2, Originally published in Planning Resource July 2019: https://www.planningresource.co.uk/article/1591488/rise-tech-giant-developer-euan-mills The partnership between the City of Toronto and Google’s Sidewalk Labs is one of the most interesting examples of a technology company moving into property development. …

Column 1, Originally published in Planning Resource June 2019: https://www.planningresource.co.uk/article/1588311/technology-revolutionise-local-people-involved-planning-euan-mills The 1960s marked a turning point in the history of urban planning. Until this point, planning was done unto people. As planners sketched out new plans for places, there was little or no thought given to local knowledge or building…

Originally published in ENQ: The ARCC Journal, 2019–11–25 https://arcc-journal.org/index.php/arccjournal/issue/view/40 “Architecture is in a sort of crisis” claims David Chiperfield (Dalley 2018), but new technology presents an opportunity for architects to re-invent themselves as central to the production of the built environment. …

Originally published at https://futurecities.catapult.org.uk on May 10, 2019. — Over the last 36 months MHCLG set up a Digital Land team and provided £1.2million towards a Planning Innovation Fund, the GLA have defined aspirations for digital planning in London, and, a number of our Open Call and Design Sprint participants (eg, Hackney Council and PlanX) are about to launch…