Publica

It was a privilege to connect with the next generation of urban designers from the Royal College of Art’s School of Architecture, at the latest Career Conversations panel.  Our Founding Director, Lucy Musgrave OBE RDI Hon FRIBA, shared her path into building an urban design practice, speaking alongside a brilliant panel, including:  hikaru nissanke, Director of OMMX   Emmy Bacharach, Architectural Designer at Xcessive Aesthetics   Giles Smith, Founding Partner of Assemble Thank you to the Royal College of Art for the valuable opportunity to engage with a thoughtful group of students, and to share pathways into inclusive and impactful urban design careers, as they begin to shape the cities of our future.       ---   #Publica #LucyMusgrave #RCA #CareerConversations #UrbanDesign

Achieving true equity in our cities begins with centring the voices of women, girls and gender diverse people, affirming their power to shape urban life. Publica’s Founding Director, Lucy Musgrave OBE RDI Hon FRIBA presented our international work at the inaugural London VAWG International Summit at City Hall. In a panel chaired by Leslie Crosdale, co-founder of City Hub and Network for Gender Equity (CHANGE), Lucy joined an inspiring group of global leaders including: -- Laura Tami, Secretary for Women’s Affairs, Alcaldía Mayor de Bogotá, Colombia  -- Gretchen Hunt, Director at Louisville Metro Government, Louisville USA  -- Maria Kearsley, Security and crime prevention strategist, Stockholms stad, Sweden, -- Kathryn Timmins, Design Lead at the Greater London Authority Thank you to Mayor's Office for Policing And Crime (MOPAC), CHANGE and the GLA for bringing these vital voices together. By sharing our expertise, listening to diverse perspectives and learning from one another, we can collectively reimagine safer, more inclusive and empowering cities for all. ---  #Publica #MOPAC #CHANGE #LucyMusgrave #InclusiveCities #VAWG Photos ©Greater London Authority

This week our team contributed to impactful conversations about the future of urban lighting at the LUCI Cities & Lighting Summit 2025, co-organised with the City of London. Senior Urban Designer, Gaia Crocella, led a creative body mapping night walk through the City of London, inviting participants to reflect on how public spaces could be reimagined to better support diverse needs and experiences after dark. Senior Researcher, Daniel Blyth, shared his expertise in night time strategy and policy as a panellist at ‘Lighting for all: building safer, more inclusive public spaces after dark.’ Daniel joined a fantastic panel that included Elizabeth Johnston, Executive Director of European Forum for Urban Security (Efus); Russell Pengelly, Design Out Crime Officer of City of London Police; and Councillor Imran Alam of Glasgow City Council. Thank you to LUCI Association and City of London Corporation for inviting Publica to gather with the international urban lighting community in London. ---  #Publica #LUCI2025 #LightingDesign #InclusiveCities #Placemaking #NightTimeEconomy 

A fantastic morning with delegates of Stockholm city officials, property developers and urban planners, and the NLA, where our Founding Director, Lucy Musgrave OBE RDI Hon FRIBA shared Publica’s approach to public realm strategy and design as part of their annual Collaborative Citymaking initiative. It was a privilege to present some of our major civic urbanism projects to Skärholmens Fastighetsägare, who are leading important work to make neighbourhoods in Skärholmen safer and more joyful. We’re proud to continue collaborating with city officers in Stockholm, following our recent visit with City Hub and Network for Gender Equity, and look forward to future discussions on creating urban change. Thank you to Katrin Behdjou Arshi for facilitating a brilliant session.

“Disabled people need to be part of the debate for accessibility to be designed into projects from day one.  That requires better engagement with disability groups by local authorities and developers and more disabled people in positions of power.” James Lee, Director of CIC: Access and Inclusion, recently spoke with Alicia Clegg at the Financial Times about the challenges of navigating public transport and infrastructure when commuting to work.  Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/esTi-b7n   ---  #Publica #PublicaCIC #AccessibleCities #JamesLee #FinancialTimes #FT    

Publica is pleased to share significant progress on two of our ongoing projects this week. Orms has recently submitted plans to convert Custom House into a hotel, for which we are developing a cultural strategy and landscape design. Additionally, we are providing expertise as landscape and external lighting consultants for KPF, who has secured approval to retrofit and extend a building on the Strand for King's College London. We look forward to continuing our work with Orms and KPF as these projects advance to their next stages.

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Clay Baylor as a Director at Publica.   Since joining Publica in 2021 as Projects Director, Clay has played a pivotal role in shaping our public realm designs and project delivery. His outstanding skills and expertise in landscape architecture are instrumental to our work. We are also very happy to share that Astrid Bois d'Enghien and Tess McCann have been appointed as Project Directors.  Both have made significant contributions as Senior Urban Designers at Publica, and we look forward to seeing them take on new leadership roles.   ---  #Publica #Leadership #UrbanDesign #InclusiveCities #PublicSpaces 

Publica is so pleased that Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC)’s Public Realm and Green Infrastructure SPD has been shortlisted for the Award for Plan-Making in the Planning Awards 2025.     Our detailed illustrations helped develop and translate the emerging planning design guidance, written by the exceptional planning team at OPDC.     We are proud to have contributed to this visionary framework, working closely with the OPDC team to highlight the opportunity for high-quality, resilient, and equitable public spaces and greening for all.       ---   #Publica #UrbanDesign #OPDC #PlanningAwards2025 #Shortlist #Illustration #Drawing  

Publica CIC, through its Campaign for Inclusive Cities, with The Crown Estate, UCL Urban Laboratory and Collective Architecture, are leading a national conversation focused on improving the safety of women, girls and non-binary people in the public realm.  Over the past 5 years, concerted action has been made nationwide to raise awareness of the role the built environment sector plays in addressing inequality in our urban landscape.  In the first meeting, a collaborative discussion will be held about the possibilities for a national network on gender inclusive public space. We aim to build a community of people already committed to advancing this work.  Together, we can create safer, more inclusive, and empowering spaces, and drive nationwide change.    ---   #Publica #PublicaCIC #InclusiveCities #UrbanDesign #NationalChange  Ellie Cosgrave

We are delighted that the Eastern City Public Realm Vision has been shortlisted for the Partnership Working category in the Planning Awards 2025.  Our transformative vision for the future of the Eastern City is the result of a great collaborative effort between Norman Rourke Pryme | Certified B Corp™️, Donald Insall Associates, Christina Norton and Jessica Cargill-Thompson, commissioned by the Eastern City BID.  We’re so pleased to be part of this team, working together to shape a greener, more dynamic urban space for everyone. We look forward to the ceremony in June.    ---   #Publica #ECBID #UrbanDesign #EasternCity #PlanningAwards #Shortlist