China’s fast growing urban population and the need for sustainable energy sources demand alternative development ideas. The Krafthaus, which combines an energy producing solar updraft tower with a 215 storey...

Working closely with architects SOM and our colleagues based in the UK, USA and China, our team prepared a detailed economic strategy to support a concept masterplan for the proposed JingJin New Economic City.  

Working closely with architects John Thompson and Partners, we prepared a detailed economic and spatial strategy to support a masterplan for the redevelopment of Dalian’s eastern coastal periphery. The proposed redevelopment, adjacent to the CBD of Dalian City, is substantial in scale incorporating former docks, shipyards, commercial zones, areas of natural beauty and a large petrochemical plant. The economic study involved significant data collection, analysis and interpretation of primary and secondary data sources, in order to best appraise alternative uses for the site.

Listening to this week’s episode of the Moral Maze on the UK's BBC Radio 4, one may be forgiven for thinking that the only major infrastructure project currently facing a...

In the first of our Focus On series, Happold Consulting investigates the future of infrastructure planning and investment in the United Kingdom. The Planning Act 2008

I had the great pleasure this morning of presenting to the Forum for the Built Environment (http://www.fbeonline.co.uk/) on the topic of the UK economy and its...

Wednesday (9th January 2013) saw the launch of the new strategic framework plan for Detroit, Detroit Future City, marking the culmination of a key three year role for Happold Consulting in the Detroit Works Project Long Term...

The Kama Tri-City region is one of the major industrial centres in Russia. It sits upon 30% of the world’s potash resources, a key fertiliser, and also holds metals, oil and gas reserves. It should be a buoyant area. All the major businesses together with new players have plans for expansion. Instead it is suffering from a declining working-age population and increasing proportion of elderly residents.

Perched on the eastern edge of New York City, the Jamaica Bay parklands cover more than 10,000 acres of land surrounding one of the most bio-diverse urban estuaries on the Atlantic seaboard. Historically, sections of the parklands have been separately owned and managed by the federal National Park Service (NPS) and the city Department of Parks, with limited collaboration in land management and provision of services. Numerous other organizations ranging from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to non-profit land trusts are involved in advocacy for, and conservation of, various sections of the parklands.

Dar Es Salaam faces some key social and economic challenges as one of the poorest countries in Africa, with growing inequality despite GDP growth of 5-6% per year. There is a growing backlog of urban infrastructure requirements and transportation relies primarily on privately provided mini-buses. Water and electricity household connections remain low and 80% of housing is ‘informal’. In the past, masterplans for the city have not been implemented due to a lack of coordinated planning and inadequate resources.

Earlier this year, Happold Consulting was invited to join one of the teams taking part in an international competition to develop a strategic masterplan for the Diamond Bay area of Dalian. Our team – led by John Thompson and...

Southern Riyadh provides services, amenities, jobs and homes for many of the city’s inhabitants, but over a number of years, it has suffered on a number of fronts.

Ad’Diriyyah represents a series of stunning historic oasis settlements situated in Wadi Hanifah, itself an area of outstanding natural beauty, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s capital city, Riyadh. The site is both the location for the founding of modern Saudi Arabia as well as the birth of the Wahab school of Islam (the “Oneness Movement”).

Jeddah is facing the challenge of sustainably managing its growth for the coming 20 years. During this period, the city will be required to create nearly 1.2 million new jobs and develop around 50,000 new homes per every year.

Detroit’s economic and population decline, driven by changes in the US auto and wider manufacturing industry, is a globally recognized story - as are the social, employment and urban consequences for those who remain in the city. Less well known is the tangible economic resurgence that has already started in the city.: new New sectors of the economy are emerging that provide job opportunities for Detroiters and attract new residents to the city. This resurgence is fragile – it will happen against the backdrop of a continued fall in the population until at least 2020 and highly constrained city budgets. Reorganizing the city’s systems and healing the environment are critical to facilitating these changes. The city’s government, civic and business leaders, and its residents face big decisions regarding how best to respond to the challenge of providing more effective systems at reduced costs and an enhanced environment for the evolving city.