POSTCARD FROM UTRECHT: Healthier living and the AoU Congress July 2025August 2025 Spending six days in the Netherlands to attend the Academy of Urbanism Congress in the Dutch city of Utrecht in June brought home the huge benefits from sustained public investment in creating connected cities and healthy neighbourhoods. With such a relaxed way of life in a Northern European city, many of the visitors to the AoU Congress must have wondered whether Dutch cities offered a replicable model for the UK.
Land for Housing February 2019August 2026 Britain's housing crisis and regional imbalances share a root cause: land value uplift is captured privately rather than reinvested locally. Drawing on seven European case studies - from Freiburg's self-build "passports" to Rotterdam's mutual benefit programmes - this report shows how Germany and the Netherlands turned land value capture into affordable housing, better infrastructure, and stronger local economies, all without relying on central government handouts. For policymakers, it offers a practical blueprint: freeze land prices in designated growth areas, empower development corporations with democratic mandates, and channel uplift into the transport and community infrastructure that struggling regions need - easing cost-of-living pressures while narrowing the North-South divide. This paper was prepared as a response to John Healey MP’s comprehensive report and consultation Housing for the Many
Better Housing for the 21st Century January 2019September 2025 A report by The Academy of Urbanism on how the problems of the English housing market may be solved by learning from successful places.
Affordable Housing July 2018September 2025 A contract from Shelter to advise their Social Housing Commission on international good practice resulted in thirteen illustrated case studies from Bilbao to Singapore and Zurich., and an analysis of published information on social housing in Europe.
How can local government build sustainable urban neighbourhoods? February 2012September 2025 The UK needs many more and better homes. This study presents ideas drawn from research and case studies on how to develop sustainable new communities.
