Cities Programme graduates find career opportunities across a wide range of urban design, planning and development agencies and consultancies in the private, public and community sectors. Cities alumni form a vibrant international network, and are a valuable source of advice, information and guidance for current students and recent graduates through regular alumni evenings and Cities public events, participation in Studio reviews, and informal contacts.
See Cities alumni, left hand menu, to find out what some of our former students are doing - with some highlights below. If you are a Cities alumnus and would like to be added to the list, change your details or just keep us updated with your contact details, please email cities@lse.ac.uk|.
A growing number of our alumni can be found individually and in the LSE Cities Programme group on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/|
Picture of students and staff at Studio publication launch in June 2011 by Angelica Figueroa (Class of 2011).
Recent Graduates (2011)
Rashid Ali (Young Architect of the Year finalist 2011) has completed a Giles Worsley Fellowship at the British School in Rome from October 2011 to January 2012. Karl Baker has joined LSE Cities to work on research relating to the Economics of Green Cities programme. Giacomo Biraghi has joined the Milan Expo 2015 support team. Michael Delfs now works at Foster + Partners (London). Liz Dunn is Principal, Dunn & Hobbes, Seattle and consulting director, Preservation Green Lab, National Trust for Historic Preservation, USA (see below). Maria Fernanda Herrera is working in the Department of the Built Environment of the City of London Corporation. Savitri Lopez-Negrete is working on the public consultation for the redevelopment of the Shell Centre, South Bank for community engagement experts Soundings, London. Ezra Moser is working in Nairobi on a UN Habitat internship. Tim Pittman is Research Communications Manager, Gensler, New York. Sachin Soni has rejoined CEPT University, Ahmedabad as Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Architecture (see below). Carolyn Sponza is Senior Master Planner at Gensler, Washington DC. Tessina Schenk is urban designer, researcher and coordinator of the S.L.U.M. Lab Magazine for ETH, Zurich. Maria Vitale is a Community Development Trainee at the Peabody Trust, London.
Read an interview with Liz Dunn in The Atlantic on The Economics of Urban Grain|.
Sachin Soni is teaching Architectural Design Studios and History & Theory of Architecture at CEPT, working and collaborating on research projects related to cities and built environments. He recently organised an exhibition on works of alumni of the School of Architecture during the launch of its golden jubilee celebrations, see pictures below:
Previous Graduates
Here's a selection of alumni who have been in touch recently with their news:
Shonda Wang (2002) has joined planningAlliance of Toronto as a Senior Planner and Urban Designer.
Nisha Mistry (2009) is Manufacturing Advisor, City of Newark, New Jersey.
Dominic Church (2001) has joined the German Council for Sustainable Building www.DGNB.de| to lead the delivery of their international certification and accreditation programme for sustainable urban quarters and buildings. He is also engaged in teaching and research at the Department of Urban Design at Stuttgart University and at at the Sustainable Urbanism Institute at Munich Technical University, with projects in Nuremberg-West, Gelsenkirchen-Herten and Stuttgart-Berg. Drawing together leading academics and practitioners in the field of sustainability and resilience in design, Dominic organised an international symposium on "Sustainable Urban Retrofit" at Stuttgart University in December 2011. The publication is scheduled for April 2012.
Daniel Budish (2010) is Development Officer for the City of Cleveland in the Department of Economic Development. His work involves helping to institute systems change for the city - including updating the e-permitting system for the building department and creating an economic development strategy for the city.
Adam White (2010) and colleagues have set up project design and development firm Groupshot|, focusing on 'Technology for Informality'. They design technology projects, products, and programmes for development organizations and businesses working in developing regions that work to bridge informal systems, and their benefits, with the security and opportunity of formal systems.
Jeff Risom (2009) works for Gehl Architects| in Copenhagen, where his focus areas are bicycling and walking strategies, synthesizing meaningful input into urban processes through workshops and conferences and developing framework masterplans for urban regeneration projects. He returns to the MSc City Design Studio each year as a guest practitioner.
Paul McGann (2009) is working on a PhD at London Metropolitan University's Cities Institute, focusing on the 2012 'Olympic legacy' project .
Penny Garrett (1999 - the first cohort of MSc City Design and Social Science graduates) is Leader of Urban Design, City Design, City of Melbourne, Australia.
Guy Briggs (1999) is now based in Cape Town where he runs his own urban design consultancy, is a design tutor at the University of Cape Town architectural school (3rd year), is setting up a research network looking at issues of urbanisation, sustainability and form in Southern Africa (City-Form Africa www.city-form.org|), and is regional development director for UK consultancy Portland Design Associates.
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