When I was younger, I wanted to be a doctor.

 

I was fascinated by health, by people, and by what enables communities to thrive. I didn’t become a medical
doctor, but I came to realise something just as powerful: the way we plan, design, govern and build cities directly shapes human health, wellbeing, opportunity and happiness. In that sense, cities are one of the greatest determinants of both human and planetary health.

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That is why many people now refer to me as “The City Doctor.”

Born and raised in the UK, my early career was forged in Cape Town, South Africa, where I worked on the early master-planning of the world-famous Cape Town V & A Waterfront. During this time, I was also appointed as Chief Urban Designer to the Cape Town 2004 Olympic & Paralympic Bid Co.
 

Then in London during a period of profound urban change, I led the Urban Design, Master planning and Architecture programme at the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, home to Canary Wharf and London’s second financial district.

I was later appointed as Founding Chief Executive of Urban Design London, a unique metropolitan partnership across 33 London boroughs and senior political and executive leadership. In this role, I worked at a strategic, city-wide scale mentoring, advising, training and uplifting urban design capability across the entire capital.
 

From London, I was headhunted to Auckland, NZ, to become the city’s first-ever Design Champion. For 14 years, I worked at the strategic core of Auckland’s long-term urban design led transformation, leading the Auckland Award winning City Centre Masterplan (2012) and helping deliver landmark projects including Wynyard Quarter Waterfront, Britomart, Fort Street, Lightpath (Te Ara I Whiti) cycling and walking super-highway, and the internationally recognised shared spaces programme for example.
 

By 2016 Auckland was recognized in the Lee Kuan Yew World Cities Prize, the Oscar’s for cities. By 2019, Auckland had more cranes on its skyline than any city in the United States and in 2021, it was ranked the World’s Most Liveable City by The Economist.

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During this period, I also led through the largest local government amalgamation in New Zealand’s history, when eight councils combined to form the Auckland “Super City”, now the largest unitary authority in Australasia.
 

After Auckland, I headed to Australia to take on senior executive city-shaping roles including:

• Executive GM, Planning & Precincts at the Suburban Rail Loop Authority, Melbourne.

• General Manager, Business, Economy & Activation at the City of Melbourne

• General Manager, City Design & Liveability at Wyndham City

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Across more than 30 years, I have worked alongside Ministers, Mayors, CEOs, Boards, planners, transport agencies, developers and communities across the UK, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.
 

Today, through Ludo Campbell-Reid CITIES, I advise governments, infrastructure agencies, city leadership teams and developers globally on how to turn bold vision into investable, deliverable, people-centred urban transformation.
 

Whether working at Cabinet level, with executive leadership teams, or walking the streets with local communities, I continue to work as a City Doctor, diagnosing what holds places back and helping leaders co-create confident, creative, yet pragmatic pathways to lasting change.
 

Now based in Melbourne, I consult internationally.
 

At the heart of my work is a simple belief:

Great cities don’t happen by accident. Instead, they are shaped by deliberate, visionary and choregraphed action.