---
title: Planning Thriving Places Requires a Vision-led Approach
url: "https://www.systra.com/uk/expert_insights/planning-thriving-places-requires-a-vision-led-approach/"
type: expert_insights
date_published: 2023-06-01
date_modified: 2023-09-14
schema:
  @type: WebPage
language: en-GB
word_count: 655
reading_time: 4 min
canonical: "https://www.systra.com/uk/expert_insights/planning-thriving-places-requires-a-vision-led-approach/"
featured_image: "https://www.systra.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2023/06/liveable-cities-illustration-e1686756669244.png"
type-insight:
  - Creating Places That Thrive
---

# Planning Thriving Places Requires a Vision-led Approach

![Planning Thriving Places Requires a Vision-led Approach](https://www.systra.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2023/06/liveable-cities-illustration-e1686756669244.png)

**The way we plan for the future has changed. It has had to change. The world around us has completely transformed in the past 10 years alone, and yes that’s partly to do with Covid, but that’s not the whole story. **

We live in a digital age where we have options on how we communicate and how to
undertake day-to-day activities whether in person or online. Climate change has
risen up the political agenda in recent years and is no longer the bridesmaid in
our transport policy objectives. As transport planners we know that our sector
is responsible for at least a quarter of our carbon emissions in the UK and we
have a collective mandate to reach net zero by 2050.

The old approach to transport planning of ‘predict and provide’ is over. At
SYSTRA, we’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what a new vision-led approach
means in practice. This necessitates a culture shift in thinking and methods
from previously asking ‘What is needed to accommodate future (traffic) growth?’
to envisaging ‘What type of city, town or village do we really want to live
in?’. We must then ask, how can the vision set in our strategy translate to
reality?

We are already witnessing industry stalwart, the TRICS dataset, used by
transport planners for decades, undergoing a reset in terms of its use in the
decision-making process with the release of the 
_Decide and Provide Guidance (2021)_. The TRICS consortium has attempted to lead
the way in providing a method for the analysis of vision-led planning for new
development.

More recently, the custodian of the strategic road network (SRN) in England and
Wales – National Highways – has made it crystal clear that their role in spatial
planning has changed. The 
_[DfT SRN Policy Guidance](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/strategic-road-network-and-the-delivery-of-sustainable-development/strategic-road-network-and-the-delivery-of-sustainable-development)_
 states that National Highways will support local authorities in moving away
from transport planning based on predicting future demand to supporting the
outcomes communities are seeking to achieve. Furthermore, the Guidance
specifically sets out that transport assessments supporting new development 
should “start with a vision of what the development is seeking to achieve and
then test a set of scenarios to determine the optimum design and transport
infrastructure to realise this vision”.

Fundamentally, this requires a shift in mindset for transport planners and makes
for a far more exciting, relevant, and influential job role, grounded in
sustainability objectives. That means meeting the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. We think
an effective and joined up way to make this shift is to use a ‘logic map’
approach, which has recently been introduced as part of the appraisal process
for new interventions. It’s a systematic and more visual way of presenting the
causal chain required to achieve a specific set of changes or outcomes.

![planning-thriving-places-requires-a-vision-led-approach](https://www.systra.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2023/06/planning-thriving-places-requires-a-vision-led-approach-1024x521.png "Simplified indicative example of a logic map")

_Simplified indicative example of a logic map_

Overall, logic mapping is a great way to show how a project supports and is
aligned with the programme of overarching strategic priorities for an area.
Furthermore, there must be a golden thread of alignment from strategy, through
to the outcomes and impacts of the schemes promoted. We know that transport must
play its part in decarbonisation whilst also supporting healthy and liveable
neighbourhoods in a way that is tailored to the diverse communities across the
length and breadth of the country. Once the vision is set, we must ensure a
logical progression from strategy to delivery so that the vision becomes
reality.

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