I am very pleased to announce that Joanna Patton (Canadian Institute of Planners) and Wessel Strydom (South African Planning Institute) are the winners of the GBP£1,000 (British pounds) grants to attend the CAP biennial Business Meeting and Planning Africa 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa 14-17 October 2018.

A copy of their essay is available here:

• Joanna Patton (Canadian Institute of Planners)

• Wessel Strydom (South African Planning Institute)

Both had great essays about different topical issues about how young planners in the Commonwealth can contribute to making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Joanna’s piece was thought provoking, insightful and provided guidance to young planners on how to practice effectively for an aged population. Wessel’s essay made us reflect that sometimes we focus on the global/national policies, but Wessel’s piece highlights the importance of ‘place-making’ and small scale initiatives in creating sustainable places.  Most importantly and what made these stand-out to the judges was that they recommended how planners should practice effectively in a planning profession that often does not look to practice from across the globe. Well done- we look forward to meeting you at this year’s Conference in Cape Town.

Overall the standard of the submission was extremely high. We had over 30 entries, which is a great achievement in itself, so thank you all for time spent and giving us your valuable thoughts on this topic. Due to the high calibre of entrants we have decided with the support of the 7 other finalists, to also publish their entries:

• Rachel Akintunde (Nigerian Institute of Town Planners)

• Katherine Crerar (Royal Town Planning Institute)

• Jade Ansted (New Zealand Planning Institute)

• Roy-Layinde Hakeem (Nigerian Institute of Town Planners)

• Victoria Willes (Canadian Institute of Planners)

• Anna Bevington (Royal Town Planning Institute)

• Ian Stevens (Royal Town Planning Institute)

We decided to publish these finalists because it is the goal of the CAP Young Planners Network to share practice and ideas across the Commonwealth and actively encourage Young Planners to challenge the Status Quo in our profession.  The 9 essays here show the importance of new ideas, showing other young planners how they can implement SDG11 and what young planners could do, but most importantly it illustrates the work and thoughts of Young Planners which we can learn and implement in our daily work.

Thank you all for your entries and we look forward to seeing your active involvement in the network again in the near future.

Yours Sincerely,

Viral Desai

CAP Young Planners Network Co-ordinator