Geography in practice: smart planning at scale - from documents to dashboards

In this webinar, we were joined by James Pryor (Senior Analyst at Knight Frank), who discussed the need for ‘good’ planning data and provided insights on the technology used to develop such a system.

This session:

• Presented an overview of how Knight Frank is using AI to process and analyse UK planning applications, overcoming challenges caused by inconsistent data across 300+ local planning authorities
• Explored the use of Retrieval‑Augmented Generation (RAG) system to interrogate thousands of documents, extract structured information, and make it searchable through a database, interactive map and chatbot.
• Discussed case studies on residential development in Milton Keynes and office development in the City of London.
• Highlighted the benefits of the tool, which significantly increases efficiency, reducing document processing time from five minutes to around 30 seconds, while maintaining strong accuracy across data fields.
• Looked ahead to future opportunities, including use across more sectors, automated decisions, and explored how similar tools could support wider public access and more consistent planning decisions.

About the speaker

James Pryor is a Senior Analyst in Knight Frank’s Residential Research department, specialising in Innovation.

Please note: The views of our speakers do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Royal Geographical Society.

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