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Future Proofing London - The Smart City
Artificial intelligence is being hailed as the solution to almost every problem facing the UK planning system. But what if the most disruptive technology of our generation is also one of the most misunderstood?
Recorded on the back of our Future Proofing London thought leadership report, host Stuart Flint sits down with three experts to explore what a truly smart city looks like and why getting there will require as much caution as ambition.
Joining Stuart are Sam Fowles, barrister specialising in planning, judicial review and data protection law; Scott O'Dell, planning consultant and partner at Fisher German; and Patrick Cousins, board director at integrated communications agency PLMR, who leads their energy and sustainability practice.
Together, they take an unflinching look at what AI can and can't do in a planning context. Sam introduces the concept of the "stochastic parrot," a model that predicts decisions rather than reasons through them, and explores why handing that parrot the keys to the planning system could create more problems than it solves. From the proliferation of AI-generated objections, described by some as NIMBYism on steroids, to the very real risk of one algorithm talking to another with no human understanding at either end, the conversation is as sobering as it is fascinating.
But it's not all caution. The panel also make a compelling case for where AI genuinely earns its place: digitising decades of fragmented and handwritten planning records, processing thousands of consultation responses with speed and consistency, and generating real-time visualisations
of proposed developments that make the planning process more accessible to everyone. The Bath Stadium decision, which brought a 10-year planning saga to a close in 2025 using AI-processed consultation responses, is cited as an early proof of what's possible when the technology is used as a tool rather than a decision-maker.
Accountability sits at the heart of the debate. Scott draws a clear line between AI as a processing aid and AI as a planning authority, while Sam raises the spectre of the Post Office Horizon scandal as a cautionary
tale about what happens when algorithmic systems go unchallenged. Add in the implications of UK GDPR for automated decision-making and the potential for commercially confidential algorithms to become effectively challenge-proof, and the need for proper regulatory frameworks becomes hard to ignore.
The conversation then turns to energy, where Patrick offers a clear-eyed assessment of London's twin challenges: decarbonising heat and
managing the surging demand for power. He explores why heat decarbonisation remains the harder problem, what the government's Warm Homes Plan gets right and where it falls short, and why retrofit rather than new build is where the biggest gains will be made. He also shares a fascinating case study from Otterpool Park in Kent, where 8,500 homes are being designed around communal battery storage, rooftop solar and smart grid software, creating a blueprint for how new communities might one day supply power back to the national grid rather than simply drawing from it.
Scott brings it back to planning, exploring how locational sustainability, transport infrastructure and energy demand must all be balanced through a planning system that is sometimes too slow, too detailed and too
complex to respond to change at the pace the moment requires.
If the Smart City is the destination, this episode maps both the route and the roadblocks.
For more information and to read our Future Proofing London report, visit fishergerman.co.uk/insights
View all episodes
By Fisher GermanArtificial intelligence is being hailed as the solution to almost every problem facing the UK planning system. But what if the most disruptive technology of our generation is also one of the most misunderstood?
Recorded on the back of our Future Proofing London thought leadership report, host Stuart Flint sits down with three experts to explore what a truly smart city looks like and why getting there will require as much caution as ambition.
Joining Stuart are Sam Fowles, barrister specialising in planning, judicial review and data protection law; Scott O'Dell, planning consultant and partner at Fisher German; and Patrick Cousins, board director at integrated communications agency PLMR, who leads their energy and sustainability practice.
Together, they take an unflinching look at what AI can and can't do in a planning context. Sam introduces the concept of the "stochastic parrot," a model that predicts decisions rather than reasons through them, and explores why handing that parrot the keys to the planning system could create more problems than it solves. From the proliferation of AI-generated objections, described by some as NIMBYism on steroids, to the very real risk of one algorithm talking to another with no human understanding at either end, the conversation is as sobering as it is fascinating.
But it's not all caution. The panel also make a compelling case for where AI genuinely earns its place: digitising decades of fragmented and handwritten planning records, processing thousands of consultation responses with speed and consistency, and generating real-time visualisations
of proposed developments that make the planning process more accessible to everyone. The Bath Stadium decision, which brought a 10-year planning saga to a close in 2025 using AI-processed consultation responses, is cited as an early proof of what's possible when the technology is used as a tool rather than a decision-maker.
Accountability sits at the heart of the debate. Scott draws a clear line between AI as a processing aid and AI as a planning authority, while Sam raises the spectre of the Post Office Horizon scandal as a cautionary
tale about what happens when algorithmic systems go unchallenged. Add in the implications of UK GDPR for automated decision-making and the potential for commercially confidential algorithms to become effectively challenge-proof, and the need for proper regulatory frameworks becomes hard to ignore.
The conversation then turns to energy, where Patrick offers a clear-eyed assessment of London's twin challenges: decarbonising heat and
managing the surging demand for power. He explores why heat decarbonisation remains the harder problem, what the government's Warm Homes Plan gets right and where it falls short, and why retrofit rather than new build is where the biggest gains will be made. He also shares a fascinating case study from Otterpool Park in Kent, where 8,500 homes are being designed around communal battery storage, rooftop solar and smart grid software, creating a blueprint for how new communities might one day supply power back to the national grid rather than simply drawing from it.
Scott brings it back to planning, exploring how locational sustainability, transport infrastructure and energy demand must all be balanced through a planning system that is sometimes too slow, too detailed and too
complex to respond to change at the pace the moment requires.
If the Smart City is the destination, this episode maps both the route and the roadblocks.
For more information and to read our Future Proofing London report, visit fishergerman.co.uk/insights