Manchester planning expert wins profession鈥檚 highest honour
糖心Vlog官方 is proud to announce that Professor Cecilia Wong has been awarded the prestigious Gold Medal by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), one of the highest accolades in the global planning profession.
The Gold Medal, first awarded in 1953 and granted only at the discretion of the RTPI鈥檚 Board of Trustees, recognises exceptional achievement and international impact in town and country planning. Professor Wong becomes just the 17th recipient in its history, underlining the significance of her contribution to the field.
Professor Wong is Professor of Spatial Planning in the University鈥檚 Department of Planning, Property and Environmental Management, within the School of Environment, Education and Development. She is also Director of the Spatial Policy & Analysis Lab at the Manchester Urban Institute, where her work bridges academic research and real-world policy challenges.
Her research has played a major role in shaping contemporary planning thinking, with particular expertise in strategic spatial planning, urban and regional development, and housing and infrastructure policy. Her work focuses on developing innovative methods for spatial analysis and policy monitoring, helping policymakers better understand complex relationships between people, place and economic change.
Over a distinguished career spanning more than three decades at Manchester, Professor Wong has combined academic leadership with practical impact. She began her career as a professional planner in local government before moving into academia, bringing a strong applied focus to her research. Her work has informed national and international policy debates, including major contributions to discussions on regional inequality, infrastructure planning and sustainable urban development.
She has held numerous influential roles across the sector, including serving on the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Council and chairing the UK鈥檚 2021 Research Excellence Framework sub-panel for Architecture, Built Environment and Planning. She is also a Fellow of both the Academy of Social Sciences and the RTPI, reflecting her standing as a leading voice in the discipline.
Professor Wong鈥檚 recent research includes major collaborative projects addressing the root causes of unhealthy urban development and exploring sustainable urbanisation in China. Her work consistently emphasises the importance of collaboration between academia, policymakers and practitioners to tackle pressing societal challenges.
She has previously been recognised by the University with the Distinguished Achievement Award for Researcher of the Year (Humanities), and continues to play a key role in shaping the next generation of planners through her teaching and mentorship.
Presenting the award, Jan Bessell praised Professor Wong鈥檚 significant contributions to the field, highlighting her leadership, mentorship, and influential body of scholarship. Her seminal publications and work on key planning texts were also recognised as shaping modern planning thought and practice.
It is a tremendous honour to receive the Gold Medal from the Royal Town Planning Institute. The award recognises the power of collaboration between academia and practice in advancing strategic spatial planning. By applying spatial and mapping analysis, we have helped stimulate debate, demonstrating the need to engage seriously with spatial complexity and to recognise the critical role of functional connectivity in effective policymaking.
"There is an urgent need for a national spatial vision to address entrenched spatial inequalities across the UK. Delivering innovative policy and practice is best achieved through close collaboration between research and professional practice, combining reflexive professional insight with emerging digital opportunities. We are living through a period of uncertainty, but it is also a moment ripe for creative and ambitious discussion.鈥�