PLATINUM PARTNER & AWARDS CATEGORY SPONSOR

At Urbis, we have one simple goal – to shape the cities and communities for a better future. It’s something we achieve by drawing together a network of the brightest minds. 

Urbis is a creative community of practice experts, working to deliver fresh thinking and independent advice and guidance – all backed up by real, evidence-based solutions. 

Whether you engage Urbis in the areas of planning, design, heritage, policy, valuations, transactions, economics, or research, you know you’re dealing with the experts who will connect you to a better outcome, every time. 

At Urbis, and through our international business Cistri, we seek to collaborate and partner with clients who are making the places we live and reshaping the way we live there. Urbis works hard to understand what clients want to achieve and help them see what’s possible.  

Platinum Sponsor Spotlight

Everything is changing and Planning is not the exception.

By Ashley Lane, Group Director of Planning.

As we face unprecedented challenges in Australia – cost of living strains, the housing crisis, climate change emergency, to name a few – the evolution of the planning industry has never been more important. 

In this time of immense change, we must have the flexibility to adapt, grow, and seize moments of opportunity. To best support the prosperous growth of our cities and communities, we as planners need to not only be aware of the shifting trends impacting Australia and our industry, but to harness them. 

PIA Foresight, the upcoming PIA and Urbis report, sourced insight from over 450 planning professionals of various experience across the country. While the trends captured were vast, clocking over 200 different considerations, one thing was consistent – each trend posed an opportunity for improvement. 

James White, Research and Strategic Knowledge Manager and lead of the PIA Foresight report research team, commented, “One thing has been clear throughout the research process: young, emerging planners’ empathic call for planners and the planning profession in its entirety to be bolder. The overwhelming sentiment is that the profession needs to be stronger, and for that to happen planners need to embody a bolder voice and approach. Bold leadership is essential, and not limited to senior planners; transformative leadership within the planning profession is available to and the responsibility of every planner.” 

With a new generation of planners emerging through the workforce, it’s important to highlight one priceless quality these young planners all share; their ability to look upon challenges and the profession with fresh eyes and newer ways of thinking. Investing in young planners is crucial to the progress and success of our industry. 

So too is innovation. As PIA Foresight will illuminate, the understanding of and approach to trends impacting industry will determine how the profession advances. Business as usual is not an option, but combining historical experience with contemporary ideas will help propel planners and the profession forward. 

To support our vision for growth and change here at Urbis, I am proud to have stepped into the national role of Group Director of Planning as of last year, after a 16 year-long tenure with the company. From this position, I have been privileged to witness the sheer extent – in terms of both impact and reach – our national planning team has and continues to have with city shaping projects across the country. 

As the market and physical landscape continues to evolve at pace, it’s critical the planning profession progresses in time, if not faster. And when everything is changing, the one thing that remains consistent is Australia’s future depends on planners.