Valentina Giordano

Valentina is a Lecturer (teaching) in Urban Design at the BArtlett School of Planning, UCL.

She has over 20 years UK experience, which includes professional consultancy (urban design and streetscape intervention), academic research (design governance) and teaching (urban Design). She also manages the Place Alliance, a cross-sector collaborative alliance for place quality, chaired by Professor Matthew Carmona. See: https://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/placealliance

Since it was established in 2014, through the production of robust evidence, the Place Alliance advocates for place quality. It is focussed on the idea that through knowledge and collaboration we can establish a culture whereby the quality of place becomes an everyday national and local priority. The Place Alliance works with organisations and individuals who share this belief and who recognise that the quality of our built environment has a profound influence on people’s lives.

Valentina's research interest focus on current practice in the design governance field, in particular on generating a baseline of knowledge about the quality of the built environment and its delivery at the local and national level through design policies and guidance. 

She has taught for several consecutive years on a number of Urban Design modules on both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, as well as acting as research supervisor on Postgraduate dissertations and the Laidlaw Scholarship Programme.

In 2024 she has started coordinating the UDCP Module: Design and Real Estate, taking over from Prof Peter Rees.

Since 2022 she oversees the teaching of Graphic Skills across all Undergraduate and Postgraduate programmes. She is also the Departmental Careers Liaison Tutor. 

FInd out more: 

• LinkedIn
• UCL Academic Profile

Key words:

Urban Design - Design Governance - Graphic Skills - Place Quality