Welcome to

Digital Task Force
for Planning

An Innovation-Led Not-for-Profit Social Enterprise

The Digital Task Force for Planning

An innovation-led not-for-profit Social Enterprise aiming to unlock the full potential of Spatial Planning in the Digital Era

The Digital Task Force for Planning is registered as a not-for-profit Social Enterprise in October 2022 with its Co-Founders Dr Wei Yang as its CEO and Professor Michael Batty as its Chair of the Board.  

Our mission is to create a digital ‘National Trust’ for the long-term benefit of future generations by promoting valuable knowledge sharing as assets for the public good.

We are currently standing at a threshold, defined to an extent by the pandemic. This is a tipping point focused on how the planning profession and planning in society can best embrace a future increasingly based on the digital revolution.

We are focused on achieving a systemic transformation through digital technology and big data, establishing a community-focused, scientifically-based, and digitally-enabled decision-making process – a new approach prioritises community needs, health, and wellbeing, and promotes multifunctional land use in both urban and rural areas.

The Task Force promotes the digital integration and advancement in Spatial Planning to tackle the grand challenges in the 21st Century. It seeks to apply and develop cutting edge digital research and technology into mainstream Spatial Planning practice and education thus leading to transformative changes needed in the sector for public benefit.

The Task Force will focus on the Development part of R&D – as a convenor, facilitator and enabler of digitalisation in mainstream planning practice & education to support the establishment of an integrated ecosystem for spatial planning innovation.

OUR MISSIONS

Promoting a community-focused, scientifically-based, and digitally-enabled decision-making process.

Leading the planning profession and its education to thoroughly and proactively embrace the digital revolution.

OUR GOALS

Empowering communities to drive positive changes in their community, while at the same time leveraging the planning system to enhance the built and natural environment through a holistic approach.

Empowering planners with new skills to tackle the grand challenges of our times for public interest.

Our Journey

The Digital Task Force for Planning was formed in February 2021 as an independent expert panel to raise awareness, expertise and skills to empower planning profession in the digital era.  

The panel was co-chaired by Professor Michael Batty, Chairman of the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) in the Bartlett School at University College London (UCL) and Dr Wei Yang, Chair of Wei Yang & Partners and President for 2021 of the Royal Town Planning Institute.  The panel was formed by a group of influential thought leaders across a broad spectrum relating to planning and digital technology.

Our Work since 2021

During 2021, the Task Force carried out a comprehensive cross-sector consultation programme, involving local and national government departments, agencies dealing with the natural and built environment, digital technology, public health, and higher education. Using a whole systems approach, the study is set against the UK government’s commitment to science and technology and cutting-edge research.

Different from previous reviews of the planning system which were focused on the legislative and policy aspects of planning, this review took an entirely open approach that links many grand challenges together. The study is beyond professional, political, and departmental boundaries. The purpose of this report is to present a collective vision on how planning needs to respond to the digital future.

A big question was asked: “What should be done now to make our world a better place for our future generations through achieving a universal common good”. The Task Force regarded a new digitally enabled systems approach to spatial planning as one of the keys to unlocking the move to multiple goals.

The Task Force report, A Digital Future for Planning – Spatial Planning Reimagined (Batty & Yang, 2022) was published in February 2022.

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