This paper explores the scope for innovative planning pedagogies in a time of increasing awareness about the need for co-creation in planning practices and in generating planning knowledge. It draws on the example of a public consultation event devised by masters planning students, teaching staff and city council planning staff. The consultation related to a proposed urban regeneration plan beside the location of two secondary schools. Although wide-ranging public consultation had taken place, the voices of the secondary school pupils had not been forthcoming. The consultation project with masters’ students was designed as a combination of consultation and collaboration involving the masters’ students and secondary school pupils in critiquing the existing regeneration proposals, and examining potential alternative visions for the area in question. A key element of the exercise was the masters’ students seeking structured feedback from the secondary school pupils on whether and how the engagement process had made a difference for them, and the value of the subsequent reflective process for the masters students that it gave rise to.

The paper highlights the value of experiential learning in a real-world context, where planning students are involved in real planning projects alongside professional planners. It discusses the value of structured forms of feedback and reflection on the process, in this case, through seeking feedback on the quality of the public engagement process. It also discusses the use of a skills framework that supports teaching staff and students to assess students’ progress in reaching a range of essential planning competencies as part of their professional development as planners.