Hannah Hickman

Biography	Hannah Hickman is Associate Professor of Planning Practice at the University of the West of England. Hannah joined academia from practice in 2017 after a career as a professional town planner, in central and regional government. Hannah is passionate about the value of research in achieving change in policy and practice and was selected as The Planner’s “Women of Influence 2022: Academia”. She is chartered member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), Chair of the University of Cape Town RTPI Partnership Board, Vice-Chair of the RTPI’s Partnership and Accreditation Panel, and a UK representative on the Association of European Schools of Planning. She has also recently been appointed as the Chair of Cambridge Ahead’s Planning and Housing Advisory Group. Hannah works with a wide variety of public, and private sector organisations on short term and long-term research projects. Her most recent projects have included: the role of local planning authorities in delivering brownfield land (for the Planning Advisory Service); improving post-planning processes to deliver better places (for the West of England Combined Authority and winner of the 2021 RTPI Sir Peter Hall Award for Research Excellence); project-hindsight: post-decision implementation (for the National Infrastructure Planning Association and winner of the 2024 RTPI Sir Peter Hall Award for Research Excellence); and Strategic Planning in England: Current Practice and Future Directions (for the Royal Town Planning Institute). She is currently a co-investigator on the ESRC funded URBAN RETROFIT project looking at interventions in the existing built environment to meet carbon net-zero and led by the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence at the University of Glasgow.
Research Interests	Her research interests include: Strategic spatial planning; nationally significant infrastructure planning; planning and implementation; and professional practice, ethics and motivation.

Biography

Hannah Hickman is Associate Professor of Planning Practice at the University of the West of England. Hannah joined academia from practice in 2017 after a career as a professional town planner, in central and regional government.
Hannah is passionate about the value of research in achieving change in policy and practice and was selected as The Planner’s “Women of Influence 2022: Academia”. She is chartered member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), Chair of the University of Cape Town RTPI Partnership Board, Vice-Chair of the RTPI’s Partnership and Accreditation Panel, and a UK representative on the Association of European Schools of Planning. She has also recently been appointed as the Chair of Cambridge Ahead’s Planning and Housing Advisory Group.

Hannah works with a wide variety of public, and private sector organisations on short term and long-term research projects. Her most recent projects have included: the role of local planning authorities in delivering brownfield land (for the Planning Advisory Service); improving post-planning processes to deliver better places (for the West of England Combined Authority and winner of the 2021 RTPI Sir Peter Hall Award for Research Excellence); project-hindsight: post-decision implementation (for the National Infrastructure Planning Association and winner of the 2024 RTPI Sir Peter Hall Award for Research Excellence); and Strategic Planning in England: Current Practice and Future Directions (for the Royal Town Planning Institute).
She is currently a co-investigator on the ESRC funded URBAN RETROFIT project looking at interventions in the existing built environment to meet carbon net-zero and led by the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence at the University of Glasgow.

Research Interests

Her research interests include:
Strategic spatial planning; nationally significant infrastructure planning; planning and implementation; and professional practice, ethics and motivation.