Rim Chouaib - Scottish Young Planner of the Year

We are very proud of our colleague Rim Chouaib, who was named Scottish Young Planner of the Year during the summer.

The whole KMA team are delighted to have her as a colleague, and are frequently inspired by her enthusiasm and achievements across her time at KMA.

Rim prepared an article for The Planner. Just in case you don’t have access to The Planner, we have reproduced its content here:

Getting Loud about Planning: reflections from the 2025 Scottish Young Planner of the Year

Rim Chouaib MRTPI, Senior Planning Consultant and Designer at Kevin Murray Associates, reflects on the achievement of being named Scottish Young Planner of the Year at the 2025 RTPI Scotland Awards for Planning Excellence.

When I was nominated for the Scottish Young Planner of the Year award, I was interested in the opportunity it presents to amplify values that I care about – inclusive engagement, community-led planning, and giving a voice to communities in shaping the future of their places.

Let’s be honest, we planners are not always comfortable shouting about our achievements. We’re more likely to be found immersed in planning policy, submitting or assessing planning applications, or doing community consultation, rather than up on-stage collecting awards. However, that is precisely why the RTPI planning awards are important; they celebrate not just skills or potential, but impact.

As planners we have an impact on the lives of people. The way we plan our towns and cities influences the way people use them, from the local to more strategic levels. It can affect their behaviour, even their health and wellbeing. Celebrating best practice can provide inspiration for what can be achieved, acknowledging people who sometimes have spent decades making projects happen, and demonstrating that change is not always a bad thing.

I welcomed being nominated because I care about co-creating places with people and about making an impact. Coming from Lebanon, where planning is either non-existent, market-driven or simply a top-down approach, the outcomes are cities that sprawl, public places that become private, and neighbourhoods where people have little say in what happens.

“Through my nomination, I wanted to show that young planners can be bold, values-driven, and still deliver on strategy and policy.”  

Through my work at KMA, I have seen first-hand how meaningful collaborative processes can be, from a national level on the National Planning Framework 4, to regional strategies such as the iRSS for Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, and locally such as the vision and plan for Glasgow’s Golden Z, or the Cupar Youth Charrette. These allow people to share knowledge, understand different points of view and work together on creating a plan. Proper engagement isn’t a tick box exercise; it is a deliberative, transformational process that enriches a place.

Winning the award has been… surreal. Affirming. Motivating. It gave me a sense of achievement that contrasted with my arrival in Scotland to study, when I had virtually no clue about the Scottish Planning System. Here I am today, having worked on all sorts of strategies and plans, all across the country, reminding me that it is never too late to learn and grow as a person.

My architectural background has allowed me to look at some projects from a different perspective. For example, when working on an appeal against a refusal considered as overdevelopment, I analysed the site and created a figure-ground diagram that showed the Royal Albert Hall could actually fit onto the site, as could other famous buildings.  

Through my nomination, I wanted to show that young planners can be bold, values-driven, and still deliver on strategy and policy. I also wanted to let others from non-traditional backgrounds know they do belong here, and that they can lead.

Looking ahead, I’m focused on championing accessible planning that builds resilience – socially, environmentally, and economically. I want to challenge tokenism in engagement and help shift from consultation to true co-production. And as our sector faces the challenges of climate adaptation, housing crises, and digital transformation, I hope to be a voice that keeps empathy and equity at its core.

So yes, I’m proud to be Scottish Young Planner of the Year. But I’m even more excited about what’s next – not just for me, but for all of us shaping Scotland’s future. If you’re reading this and wondering whether you should put yourself forward next year, please consider it. We need more planners who are passionate, principled, and willing to be vocal about it.