Professional planners’ preparedness for digital transformation: an empirical analysis of PlanTech

COVID-19 lockdowns led to significant shifts in how professional planners operate. The introduction of advanced digital technologies enabled home working and virtual planning processes. An important line of academic inquiry concerns planners’ preparedness in adopting and adapting to digital transformation. Focusing on Northern Ireland, we offer a nuanced analysis of planners’ experiences of digital technologies by drilling into the demographics and competencies within the different planning sectors to disaggregate different types of planners by age, gender, seniority and skills. We present a fine-grained analytical canvas to reveal how different types of planners are experiencing the next stages of digital transformation.