Green Urbanist - Placemaking in the Climate Crisis

Antonietta Canta is a Principal Environmental and Sustainability Engineer at Arup. In this episode we discuss their recent research report: ‘Addressing overheating risk in existing UK homes’. As dry as that title sounds, the conversation was actually very illuminating and useful. It's also useful for listeners outside the UK! We discuss: How many homes in UK are at risk of overheating now and...

Jan Kattein is Director of Jan Kattein Architects, a studio that focuses on collaborative, sustainable and community-focused projects. Back in September of 2023 I joined Jan at their project in south London called the Paper Garden, which is a educational building and garden space for the charity Global Generation. Some of they key points we discuss: Radically circular building with 60% reused mate...

Kent Jackson is Design Partner at Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM) and leads the designs of a wide range of scales and typologies across the globe. Passionate about improving the future of planetary health, Kent is also a leader of SOM’s Climate Action Group, advancing the firm’s commitment for all active work to be net zero whole-life carbon by 2040. James Woodall is Sustainability Lead at SOM a...

Steve Sanham established Common Projects in 2021: a development company led by a purpose to put people and planet at the heart of its decision-making. Steve has an extensive and proven track record in the built environment, specialising in urban regeneration and in using development’s power to deliver better outcomes. Common Projects finances and delivers complex and game-changing development proj...

Sean McCormack is a consultant Vet, the Chairperson of Ealing Wildlife Group, and an incredibly knowledgeable nature conservationist and educator based in west London.  This episode is part 2 of our conversation where we get into more detail on:  The practicalities of reintroducing beavers to an urban park Management of urban nature Rewilding vs nature restoration The importance of partnerships an...

Sean McCormack is a consultant Vet, the Chairperson of Ealing Wildlife Group, and an incredibly knowledgeable nature conservationist and educator based in west London. In this episode we discuss his work to rewild urban London by reintroducing harvest mice, beavers and (eventually maybe) water voles while supporting native predators like falcons and owls in the city. It’s a really positive and ins...

Nate Hagens is a systems thinker and educator focused on a concept he calls The Great Simplification. He has spent the last 20 years studying the systems we live in like energy, ecology and economics. He teaches at the University of Minnesota and speaks widely on these topics, including on his youtube channel called Nate Hagens and his podcast called The Great Simplification. We discuss: The Great...

Climate change is here and now cities and communities must adapt for safety, health and quality of life. In this episode I discuss a useful model for thinking about climate adaptation in three levels: resilience,  transition and transformation. I also provide some examples and ideas for bringing adaptation thinking into the work of urbanists. Relevant episodes: #68: Urban Rewilding #59: Why cities...

This episode is a conversation with Tara and Lanre of Gbolade Design Studio, sustainable architects and urban designers based in London. Reflecting on their 5 years in practice, we discuss a range of topics and projects including: City-shaping with masterplans and design codes Retrofitting existing buildings Zero carbon and regenerative design Community-building and co-creating with communities In...

What is urban rewilding? Can it be done in cities? Is anyone doing it?  In this episode, we explore: History of the rewilding concept Current best practice in rewilding How rewilding can be applied to cities Case studies of active and passive rewilding in urban areas around the world Companion Blog Post - See visuals of the stuff we talk about plus sources and bibliography. Corrections: We made a...

This episode is a conversation with Jane, Lydia and Tom of architecture and urban design studio DSDHA. We discuss their research project 'Towards Spatial Justice: A guide for achieving meaningful participation in co-design processes'. We explore what co-design really means, why it’s important and how they have applied co-design processes at their projects: White Horse Square in Wembley P...

Xavier Smales is an Architect and Andy Tugby is Head of Sustainable Construction at Human Nature, a developer based in the south of England. They join me to discuss their approach to designing sustainable neighbourhoods and how they're putting this into action with a development called The Phoenix. We discuss urban design principles for sustainable lifestyles, low carbon architecture, circula...

Joe Morris is Founding Director of Morris+Company architects, based in London and Copenhagen. In this episode, he gives me a tour of their newly refurbished London office while we discuss their philosophy and approach to architecture, sustainability, circularity and connection between food and urbanism. I have collated images of all the projects we talk about in this episode in a companion blog po...

Civic Square is a Public Square, a Neighbourhood Economics Lab and a Creative + Participatory Ecosystem. They have been doing amazing work around systems change at the neighbourhood level in Ladywood, Birmingham, where they are based. Their main projects to date include creating a Neighbourhood Doughnut based on Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics concept and exploring the invisible infrastructure n...

Read the companion blog post to his episode on Substack. Israa Mahmoud is Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at Politecnico di Milano, Italy. Her research interests include nature-based solutions, co-design and urban governance. Her recent publications include The book Placemaking for Green Urban Regeneration , published by Springer. She is the research team leader together with Pr...

Read the companion blog post to this episode on Substack. Dr Helen Pineo MRTPI is an urban planner and Associate Professor in Healthy and Sustainable Cities in the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment at University College London. Her research focuses on how property development, regeneration and urban policy can support health and sustainability. She contributes to the evidence base about wh...

In this episode I fact check the article  "There are a lot of dangerous myths" about sustainability says Norman Foster , which appeared on dezeen.com on 17th January 2023.  The architect made some controversial statements about sustainability and defended Foster & Partner's decision to keep designing airports and leave Architects Declare. This episode is in no way an attack on t...

See links and images on the companion blog post. Rob Hopkins is the co-founder of Transition Network and of Transition Town Totnes, and author of several books including ‘ The Transition Handbook ‘ and most recently, ‘ From What Is to What If: unleashing the power of imagination to create the future we want’ . He is an Ashoka Fellow, has spoken at TED Global and at several TEDx events, and appeare...

Climate change is causing local weather patterns and ecosystems to shift and transform. In order to thrive in this new climate era, we will need to transform our cities and urban ecosystems. This is called 'Transformational Adaptation'.  My co-host today is Giulia Mori and in this episode we discuss: What is Transformational Adaptation and why we need it How ecosystems are transforming d...

Companion blog post on Substack I speak to Will Poole (Partner) Jack Pritchard (Associate Urban Designer) and Sophia Ceneda (Architect and Sustainability Lead) at Glenn Howells Architects. Glenn Howells Architects are based in London and Birmingham. They’ve designed award winning housing, tall buildings and masterplans across the UK. Our conversation focuses on how over the last few years they hav...

Companion blog post on Substack Laura is Head of Sustainability at Purcell, a practice of architects, heritage consultants and masterplanners working on historic structures. In this episode, we discuss Purcell's work to improve the sustainability of iconic cathedrals and advice for improving the sustainability of historic buildings of all types by taking the right approach. Links Ted Talk: Ho...

Joao is a Portuguese architect and researcher, and an Assistant Professor at Wageningen University, Netherlands. His research focuses on climate-responsive urban design and climate adaptation using a research-through-design approach. His motivation is to create and transfer design knowledge to practitioners and decision-makers, in order to prompt the adaptation of urban areas to climate change. We...

Tim Stonor is an architect and urban planner who has devoted his career to the analysis and design of human behaviour patterns – the ways in which people move, interact and transact in buildings and urban places. He is Managing Director of Space Syntax and a visiting professor at several top universities like University College London. Anna Rose is an architect and urban planner, and Director of S...

Dr Dorina Pojani is a Senior Lecturer at University of Queensland, Australia. An urban planner and urban designer by training, she has experience in both practice and academics. We discuss her new book Trophy Cities, a feminist perspective on new capitals and explore how patriarchal ideology is expressed in urban design, and what a matriarchal or 'eco-feminist' approach may be. Find our...

Originally an academic at UCL, Ness has a PhD in Greek and Latin, and also worked in the British Museum, honing her interest in research in how societies flourish and how the visual environment informs our behaviours. Way before her academic career she had started selling her landscape and seascape photography, relishing the quiet, healing moments that nature gave to her during her teenage years....