Our two young planners Paul and Sian attended Friday’s RTPI Young Planners’ Conference in Bristol. This year, the Conference considered the challenges facing our future with key discussions on housing and population, infrastructure challenges and environmental resilience. Hot topics for discussion at the Young Planners Conference included the radical solutions such as Garden Cities and how planners should accommodate a shifting population in the future. The infrastructure session questioned “What do we need to do to ensure that the lights stay on and that people keep moving?”. The environmental resilience session explored how far we need to, and to what extent we can mitigate the environmental impact of development, and its consequences for our cities? David Cowans from Places for People posed an interesting question “is planning a verb or a noun?”. Whilst Tim Norwood from EDF Energy emphasised the importance of power, not just to keep the lights on but also as a key driver for economic growth.