James Parkinson
Programme Coordinator
James joined the Building Futures team in September 2011 and coordinates the whole programme.
He studied Architecture at the University of Sheffield, followed by an MA in Urban Design.
He has previously worked as a design advisor, within RDA Yorkshire Forward, promoting and enabling design quality & placemaking as part of the Urban Renaissance Programme. He is now embedded within the Policy team at the RIBA leading on planning policy and the Localism agenda.
James is interested in the potential for strategic urbanism to improve social, economic and environmental conditions, promoting cohesion and providing meaning in an increasingly complex world.
Areas of interest include:
• Dynamics between the global, networked megacities of both the developed and developing world
• The potential for urban design to unify a fractured but interdependent global society
• Sustainable masterplanning – the future relationship between global and local
• Economic, social and political factors influencing the development of British inner-cities
• Temporary intervention as a driver for more dynamic masterplanning
• Infrastructure as architecture
• Spatial agency
• Participatory design & issues surrounding democratic and inclusive design
