Considerate Urbanism: Why now?

My interest and work is on the social future of cities and how we live in and experience urban space. I am interested in people’s emotional attachment to place and how to ensure we have strong and resilient social fabric in our communities. That's partly about making people more aware and interested in their places, but also engaging people properly in the placemaking process. Underneath this is an even more core interest about the urban experience; from the exciting and inspiring to the challenging, obstructive, and unwelcoming ones.

I’m on a mission to make urban experience and urban life better for everyone. This shouldn’t be a lottery or anything to do with who or how old you are, what you look like or where you come from. I believe everyone has the right to have a positive urban experience.

Our culture and society is changing and evolving, as it does with every generation and we are seeing the effects of that in generational attitudes to work, the economy, the environment, and politics.

We've got a growing climate change emergency, an ongoing global pandemic, the fallout of Brexit, ongoing political instability, and numerous social justice movements demanding change from our pernicious and stubbornly ingrained lack of social justice and inclusion.

I feel there is a general feeling of society being under immense pressure and flux. We feel anxious, mentally fragile, and emotionally exhausted and it shows in our places. We wear our hearts on our streets as well as our sleeves. I’m left wondering if we all need a break - to know we matter, we are valued and cared for?

We’ve seen a shift towards greater responsibility and transparency as citizens and consumers. An urge to strip away the sheen and the façade; to see the realness and integrity of things. With products, we want to know where they come from, how they were made and if that was an ethical process. We have cruelty free, fair trade, locally produced, and ethically sourced goods. We want our food to be clean, honest, better for us.

We want to connect emotionally and value the authenticity of a product being what it is, and not something it isn’t. All of this is powered by consideration - of user needs and wants, of emotional connection and meaning, of impact on people and planet. I see this transfer to other aspects of our lives; business, personal wellness, organisations, and institutions. But what about urban space?

I’m left wondering if we all need a break - to know we matter, we are valued and cared for?



We live in the spatial manifestation of ideas people had years, decades, and sometimes centuries ago. Capitalism. Modernism. The Car. Are they really fit for purpose now in the changing times we are in? What urban ideas will we make real next? They need to be the kind of ideas that make cities work better for people and our planet. Ideas for a fairer, more ethical, and human-friendly form of urbanism that cares about what we need and how we want to live and feel in urban space.

That invites us to imagine the type of future city we need to start emerging now to meet the pressing social, economic and environmental challenges we face.

For me it needs to be a “considerate urbanism”. This is about making urban environments, urban life, and urban experiences more considerate
of people and our diversity, needs, behaviours, emotions, and our relationships with our planet and each other.

It is considerate of the sensory, emotional, and psychological dimension of urban space and urban experience. It is mindful of the impact of change and the way we design has on ourselves and others. It is sympathetic to our urge to create and communicate meaning, identity and belonging through the built environment. It empathises with a wider spectrum of people and their needs and lived experiences. So, people can tangibly see and say that they and their needs have been seen, acknowledged, and accounted for in their experience and use of the city. It fosters kindness, empathy, affinity, and caring urban behaviours to help bind our social fabric together.

It's urbanism that likes you - and is like you.