Planning is one of the most visible and potent outworkings of our democracy. It is the forum that safeguards by law our rights as citizens to influence the places we live and work in the city.

Join the Society for this informative series of Saturday morning talks with some of London's leading experts and discover how the system works and what planners try to achieve, from the level of 'the site' up to planning for the whole city.

Here you can block book for all five talks with the series discount - five talks for the price of four.  Non-members will get a year's individual membership of the Society as part of the package.

The planning system is a complex world of jargon-filled regulations, inscrutable maps and emotionally charged meetings. It is inhabited by an unseemly mixture of politicians, developers and consultants, with ordinary local people often bearing the brunt of their deals in the high streets and neighbourhood roads where we live. It is often blamed for blighting our beloved places with ugly buildings, and yet is similarly accused of holding back the development we need to meet pentup housing demand.

How then do we engage with the planning system? Why did some parts of London end up the way they did? What (or who) are the main forces at work in shaping urban form? How can we value the past while thinking about London's future? The Saturday Planning School will be a forum for discussing these issues in the midst of a rapidly changing London. As the city sees unprecedented changes in infrastructure provision, physical growth and demographic change, what does a well-functioning planning system look like?

Over five weeks, experts at the coal face of shaping London will be discussing the workings and challenges of London's planning system through the lens of scale - successively scrutinising the site, the neighbourhood, the borough and the city with an interlude on density and housing.

Saturday, 1 September | The Site Dr. David Knight & Guy Rochez

Saturday, 8 September | The Neighbourhood Dr Jan Kattein & David Barrie

Saturday, 15 September | Density and Housing Claire Bennie & Lorraine Hughes

Saturday, 22 September | The Borough Patricia Brown & Dr Jessica Ferm

Saturday, 29 September | The City Mark Brearley & Euan Mills *Block booking discount expires on Friday, 31 August