Conference Programme

The Planning Research Conference will offer a variety of opportunities to hear about current research, engage with leading thinkers in the field, and discuss key issues confronting planning practice and research. It will also provide the chance to find out about planning in Sheffield, and to socialise and network with fellow planning academics and practitioners. Key events include:

  • An opening reception at Sheffield’s Winter Garden
  • A conference dinner in the Kelham Island Industrial Museum, giving you an opportunity to learn more about Sheffield’s industrial heritage
  • Study tours and workshops, enabling you to learn about key planning projects and initiatives in Sheffield
  • Debates, discussions, and roundtables on key issues in planning

The Conference will commence with an evening reception on Monday 3rd September and close after lunch on Wednesday 5th September 2018.

Click here to download the programme.

Programme Outline

Sunday 2nd September

Welcome dinner for PhD workshop participants


Monday 3rd September

9.30am-4.30pm PhD Workshop

2.00pm Planning Schools Forum Meeting (meeting of Heads of Planning Schools)

5.00pm Conference Registration, Mercure Sheffield

6.30pm Welcome Drinks Reception and RTPI Research Awards Presentation, Winter Gardens, Sheffield


Tuesday 4th September

9.00am Conference Opens

In place of traditional keynote speeches this year’s conference will feature two plenary panel discussions intended to generate debate about key challenges and alternative futures for planning.

10.15am Parallel Session 1

11.30am Refreshments

12.00pm Parallel Session 2

1.15pm Lunch

2.00pm Roundtable Discussions

3.20pm Study Tours of Sheffield

TBC Conference Dinner, Kelham Island Museum


Wednesday 5th September

9.00am Parallel Session 3

10.15am Refreshments

10.45am Roundtable Discussions

12.15pm Plenary Panel 2

      1. The Land Question Revisited: Rethinking how we invest in land and housing

Confirmed speakers:

Laurie MacFarlane, co-author of “Rethinking the Economics of Land and Housing”

Prof. Antonia Layard, University of Bristol Law School

1.15pm Lunch

2.15pm Conference Closes

2.30pm Post Conference Fringe Event - Planning to change the world? Developing alternative approaches to engaged urban education

For the full programme, please click here.

Winter Gardens

One of the largest temperate glasshouses to be built in the UK during the last hundred years has created a stunning green world in the heart of the city.

There are more than 2,500 plants from around the world creating a superb display. The building itself is 70 metres long and 22 metres high (large enough to house 5,000 domestic greenhouses).

Photo credit: Will Roberts

Kelham Island

Kelham Island Museum was opened in 1982 to house the objects, pictures and archive material representing Sheffield's industrial story. Located in one of the city's oldest industrial districts, the museum stands on a man-made island which is over 900 years old.

The museum's interactive galleries tell the story from light trades and skilled workmanship to mass production and what it was like to live and work in Sheffield during the Industrial Revolution. You will be able to experience the River Don Engine in full steam, explore the Little Mesters street workshops and follow the growth of the Steel City through the Victorian Era and two world wars to see how steel-making forced both the city of today and the world.