How planners design places you want to live in
From garden squares to art schools, the secret to placemaking isn’t always grand gestures — it’s often in the details. In this week’s episode of Visionary, urbanist and Oxford fellow Samuel Hughes joins Georgina Godwin to explore what makes great places tick, and how we can revive community, character and coherence in our cities.
Forget sterile modernism and zoning gone mad — Hughes makes a case for smarter, more soulful development rooted in human needs. Drawing on lessons from Victorian London, Parisian boulevards, and the creative hum of Hackney Wick and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, he explains how even small design choices — a bench, a brick, a slice of preserved warehouse — can transform how we live together.
What you’ll learn in this episode:
Why some of London’s best neighbourhoods were created by private developers who knew the value of parks and public life.
How a bit of gritty 19th-century architecture can give modern districts their soul — and why a single building can shift the tone of a whole area.
What urban planners get right today — and why the real challenge is turning theory into action.
Watch the episode on YouTube below, or listen via your preferred podcast app.
