RTPI Award for research excellence

Researchers from Cardiff University’s School of Geography and Planning have been recognised with a 2017 Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Award for Research Excellence.

Presented by the Royal Town Planning Institute, Dr Justin Spinney, Carl Mann and Shaun Williams were named the winners of the Academic Award, along with colleagues from Oxford Brookes University, the University of Reading and the University of the West of England. The award was for the Cycle BOOM research project.

The Cycle BOOM project, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), was a three-year study led by Dr Tim Jones and Oxford Brookes University. The project’s aim was to better understand cycling amongst an older population, and how it impacted independence, health and wellbeing.

The resulting report, Cycle BOOM Design for Lifelong Health and Wellbeing, presented a range of recommendations on ways in which cycling can be developed as part of an age friendly cities agenda. It’s findings were particularly targeted at policymakers and practitioners, highlighting ways in which they could facilitate greater uptake of cycling by older people, and how to support them.

Commenting on the award, Dr Spinney said: “The whole research team are delighted to have received this award from the RTPI, reflecting the innovative and inter-disciplinary approach, good management and hard work that contributed to the success of the project.”

The winners of the RTPI Awards for Research Excellence were announced on 12 September during the 2017 UK-Ireland Planning Research Conference at Queen’s University Belfast. The awards recognise and promote high quality, impactful spatial planning research from RTPI accredited planning schools, and planning consultancies, in the UK, the Republic of Ireland and internationally.