Green Urbanist - Placemaking in the Climate Crisis

This episode is part of a 6-part series on Urban Rewilding.  My guest is Sean McCormack, Chair of Ealing Wildlife Group. Sean led the reintroduction of harvest mice and beavers into urban parks in London, UK. In this episode we discuss:  What is 'Urban rewilding' and why we should do it. What made these projects successful. Getting support from the community. What needs to change to make...

This episode is a conversation with Jonathan Rosenbloom, Associate Dean at Albany Law School who has researched and written about sacrifice zones. He is also the Executive Director for the Sustainable Development Code. We discuss: Whether neighbourhoods that have been destroyed by natural disasters should be rebuilt or designated as no-build 'Sacrifice Zones'. How US planning departments...

This is a recording of a live streamed podcast episode to celebrate episode 100 of the podcast. I was joined by three guests, who you might recognise from past episodes: Laura Baron, Head of Sustainability, Purcel Scott McAulay, Regenerative Design and Infrastructures Specialist, Architype Conrad Richardson, Sustainable Mobility Expert We discussed how we as built environment professionals can dri...

My guest on this episode is Valentina Petrone, a circular economy expert based in New South Wales, Australia. In this episode, Valentina gives career advice for those who want to transition from traditional built environment careers into sustainability. We also discuss three of her projects: New South Wales Circular Design Guidelines Bradfield City Centre Masterplan Circular Office Fitout Connect...

This episode is a conversation with Morgan Lewis, Co-Founder and CEO at Material Index. In the UK, 60% of all waste comes from the construction industry and only 2% of building components in the UK are reused. In this episode, Morgan explains how Material Index are trying to tackle this by working with building owners, contractors and project teams to make material reuse happen at scale. Learn mor...

In this episode I share some learnings from my recent research project about how climate change is likely to affect an urban nature reserve in London and climate adaptation recommendations for the reserve's management.  I discuss: How to make climate change projections tangible at the city-level How climate change may impact on some common tree and vegetation species General strategies for ho...

My guest on this episode is Katrin Klingenberg, the Executive Director of Phius. Phius is a non-profit organization committed to decarbonizing the built environment by making high-performance passive building the mainstream market standard. They are mainly active in USA with some international projects.  In this episode we discuss: Why passive design principles need to be adapted to different clim...

This episode is a conversation with Prachi Rampuria and Soham De, co-founders of an urban design practice called EcoResponsive Environments and are co-authors of a book by the same name. They joined me on this episode to discuss the concept of designing settlements with an understanding of natural systems as the starting point. They bring together the knowledge of multiple disciplines like sustain...

Nadina Galle is an ecological engineer, National Geographic Explorer, science and nature writer, podcaster, and keynote speaker. She helps green professionals use emerging technologies to improve urban ecosystems for future generations.  She is the author of the book, The Nature of Our Cities, which is the topic of our conversation. Through rich stories from the book, in this episode we explore: T...

This episode is all about technology to help us deliver Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG). My guest is Shashin Mishra, VP of EMEA for AiDash. We explore how a new digital tool called BNGAI has been created to help developers, ecologists and local authorities deliver Biodiversity Net Gain on development sites. We talk through how can the tool be used to help designers and ecologists work together in a co...

Doug Voigt, a partner at SOM, discusses the Wild Mile project in Chicago and the importance of rewilding and restoring ecological systems in cities. The project aims to reclaim part of the Chicago River as an ecological and community asset. We also discuss how the Wild Mile inspired an innovative approach to flood resilience in the Pearl River Delta. These projects are part of a larger effort to r...

James is founding partner of HTL Africa, a research-driven architectural firm dedicated to addressing the specific challenges of West African environments. He joined me to discuss what we can learn from traditional west African architecture and urbanism to apply to current challenges of climate change and housing shortages. Learn more about James and his projects: https://www.htlafrica.com/ - - -...

Dr Thami Croeser is an urban planner with a focus on bringing nature back into cities in practical ways, at large scale. He is a Research Fellow at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. In this episode we discuss practical ways of bringing more nature into cities and helping it thrive through urban planning and design.  Learn more about Thami and his publications: https://cur.org.au/people/mr-t...

Shaun Spiers is the Executive Director of the environmental think-tank, Green Alliance. In this episode we discuss how a stronger planning system in the UK can address the housing crisis and deliver more sustainable outcomes. Read their report, Build Up: https://green-alliance.org.uk/publication/build-up/ - - - Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Podcast Website Work Together Get in touch U...

Alexandra Steed is a passionate landscape architect with a deep commitment to art, sustainability, and the transformative power of landscapes.  We talk about: Her new book: Portrait to Landscape How to restore landscapes on a large scale to build climate resilience and biodiversity How The UK's Environment Act and Biodiversity Net Gain are working in reality Project case studies and book reco...

Louisa Whitmore is an architecture enthusiast, TikToker and host of the Nature of Design documentary series. In this episode we discuss her experience making the documentary, the mental health benefits of biophilic environments and case studies of great biophilic projects. Learn more about the Nature of Design documentary: The Green Channel: Link Instagram: Link TikTok: Link Louisa's TikTok:...

In conversation with Alisdair Ben Dixon (Collective Works), Anna Lisa McSweeney (White Arkitekter) and Isabel Allen (Architecture Today) about the new Regenerative Architecture Index (RAI). Launched by Architecture Today and UK Architects Declare, the Regenerative Architecture Index (RAI) sets out to benchmark practices progress in the move towards regenerative practice and projects. It recognises...

I sit down with Andrew Bullmore of VU.CITY to discuss how 3D models, digital twins and artificial intelligence tools can be used to do better, evidence-based planning and design and get more sustainable outcomes.  VU.CITY website: https://www.vu.city/ SiteSolve generative AI: https://www.site-solve.co.uk/ This is a sponsored episode. Thanks to VU.CITY for the support.  - - - Subscribe to the Green...

Sam Luker is an Associate Sustainability Director at AESG and led on their new report titled 'Net Zero Neighbourhoods'.  In this episode we discuss:  Why the neighbourhood scale is optimal for decarbonisation and finding local solutions to sustainability Principles and case studies for Net Zero Neighbourhoods Retrofitting existing neighbourhoods for decarbonisation How to get communities...

Mohit and Sue Yen are architects and members of Decolonise Architecture, a solution-based group driven to tackle institutional racism and bias within architectural education and practice. In this episode we discuss:   How architectural education and practice can be 'colonial' in its approach, and the problems with this. Expanding architectural education and practice to embrace other cult...

Jeffrey Rissman is Senior Director at Energy Innovation, where he leads the company’s work on technologies and policies to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from the industry sector. He is the author of Zero-Carbon Industry: Transformative Technologies and Policies to Achieve Sustainable Prosperity (2024) and coauthor of Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy (2018). We...

 Welcome to part 4, the final episode in the landscape mini-series. In this episode I sit down with Cannon Ivers CMLI of LDA to discuss their inspiring project The Strand, Aldwych. The Strand was for centuries a busy traffic thoroughfare in central London that has been transformed into a totally pedestrianised and multi-functional public space. Cannon tells me the story of how this came to be, wha...

 Welcome to part 3 in this mini-series on landscape and urban nature. In this episode I spoke with James Virgo CMLI of LUC. He tells me about LUC’s work on Shoreditch Park. This is a nice case study of taking an existing park and working with the local community to improve it for biodiversity while tackling anti-social behaviour and creating a more welcoming and multi-function space for local peop...

 Welcome to part 2 of this mini-series on landscape and urban nature. This episode features an interview with Michael Cowdy FLI of McGregor Coxall. We discuss two of their Landscape Award-nominated projects, a research project on BioUrbanism and the second a design code for green infrastructure for a new community Cherry Hinton North, Cambridge.  More about Biourbanism: https://mcgregorcoxall.com/...

Welcome to this 4-part series on the role of landscape and urban nature in creating resilient, sustainable and healthy places. Over the next 4 weeks I’ll be releasing short weekly episodes featuring interviews with landscape practitioners that highlight great case studies in landscape design and discuss the wider role of these interventions in green urbanism. The interviews were recorded at the La...