The 7th European Urban and Regional Planning Awards were held in Ireland for the first time ever and were hosted by the Irish Planning Institute. Representatives from professional planning institutes across European attended the awards which were presented by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Mr John Gormley TD.

The European Urban and Regional Planning Awards – established in 1990 – are intended to reward outstanding examples of planning solutions and to promote the dissemination of good practice among practitioners, decision-makers, stakeholders and citizens. Ms Virna Bussadori, President of the European Council of Spatial Planners, said that planning was very important to make cities and other areas better places to live and work.

Ms Bussadori added that a proper planning process is one that seeks integrated solutions, wide participation and accurate information and which could “connect the present to a shared vision for future development. It is also crucial to present those scenarios in such a way that decision-makers and the public can understand them easily, and in a way that will facilitate their implementation.”

She stated: “Planning is the tool to make our cities and our territories better placed in which to live and work, ready to face new economic challenges by strengthening their vocations and by better exploiting their potentials.”

Ms Bussadori added: “Planning is a profession in transition, moving away from strict regulative, top-down approaches to vision-oriented, complex integrative solutions that consider social, economic, environmental and cultural aspects. Planning is essentially team-working and the role of planners is fundamental in steering all these activities so as to facilitate the decision-making processes.”

The European Council for Spatial Planners (ECTP), the only European organisation representing all national institutes and associations of planners in Europe, considers the Awards a fundamental initiative to assess the state of the art of spatial planning in Europe; to award outstanding examples of planning solutions and to promote the dissemination of good practice among practitioners, decision-makers, stakeholders and citizens.

The ECTP is convinced that the Awards represent the best way to stimulate the research of innovative planning schemes and achievements. The Awards are definitely the tool for illustrating the ECTP’s planning principles for achieving a sustainable, competitive and cohesive Europe.

The Green Metropolis – tri-national regional development project (German/Netherlands/Belgium).

Drammen (Norway).

Joint winners

Roombeek Enschede (the Netherlands) and Stonebridge London (United Kingdom).

Ecocity of Sarriguren (Spain)

Target Research Studies – new spatial plan for the city of Ljubljana (City Planning) (Slovenia), Bydgoszcz (City Planning) (Poland) and Munich Convention City (Environmental/Sustainability) (Germany).