Renowned urbanist David Rudlin joins BDP

David Rudlin, the former director of URBED (Urbanism, Environment and Design) has joined BDP as Urban Design Director.

 

David joins BDP’s Manchester studio team and will lead a team of the UK’s top urbanists delivering global projects. The team will include a number of URBED’s urban designers including Kat Wong and Helen Berg who will be transferring to BDP with him. He will work with regions, cities and towns, planning and designing dynamic, functional places for people and communities from vision and masterplanning to design and delivery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David is the former chair of the Academy of Urbanism and his previous practice, URBED was also the winner of the Wolfson Economics Prize in 2014.

Speaking of his appointment, David said: “BDP has a global reputation for designing urban environments in some of the world’s most complex cities, socially, economically and physically. I’m so pleased to be joining an organisation that is built with the same values that we held at URBED; it is a future-thinking practice that works closely with communities, developers and stakeholders to shape progressive, successful and beautiful places. I’m excited to join the team.”

David’s appointment at BDP follows the announcement of the closure of URBED, which ends a 46-year run at the top of the urbanism profession. Founded in 1976, URBED was one of the organisations that pioneered the process of urban regeneration in the 1970s and 80s. The employee-owned cooperative made its name working on ground-breaking projects that reused the UK’s industrial heritage, managed workspaces and town centres, and delivered sustainable urbanism, domestic retrofit, urban design and coding.

At URBED, David, alongside his colleagues, authored the National Model Design Code (NMDC) and played a leading role in the government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.

Francis Glare, Principal and Head of Urbanism at BDP, said: “David’s knowledge of city dynamics, social, economic, political and environmental drivers and urban design aesthetics make him a perfect fit for BDP. His appointment is a real statement of intent for our urbanism profession and we are thrilled to be welcoming someone of his calibre. We look forward to developing and applying the sustainable and inclusive urban design principles that he helped to establish at URBED to the global opportunities of our expanding practice.”

David is the author of a number of research reports that inform the future of our cities, including 21st Century Homes for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Tomorrow: A peaceful path to urban reform for Friends of the Earth. He is also the lead author of ‘Urbanism’ published in 2016 and in 2019 RIBA Publishing produced his book with Shruti Hemani entitled Climax City.

He also writes a monthly column for BD Magazine and holds the position of chair of the Sheffield and Nottingham Design Panels.