Date: Wednesday 11 November 2026
Time: 14:30 - 16:30
Location: The Gallery, 70 Cowcross Street London. EC1M 6EJ

THIS SESSION IS PART OF THE 2026 URBANISM AWARDS PARTY PROGRAMME. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.

After a workshop event in April, the AoU network landed on joy as a theme question for the 2026 Urbanism Awards finalist assessment:

Joy: How does the place contribute to a sense of play, joy, and delight felt by a range of users?

At this session, held in the afternoon before the Urbanism Awards Party this November, we'll pick up this question, bringing together a multi-disciplinary panel and audience to contribute a range of urbanist perspectives to the question. Join us to ask, how does, or how should, a sense of joy inspire our own practice, and how do we create places people love?

Panellists

Sarah Allan

Head of Architecture and Urban Design, MHCLG

Sarah’s role in Government is focused on design policy and implementation and assists in delivering the Government’s commitment to improve the design quality of homes and places, working across Government departments, and with external stakeholders, to ensure architecture and urban design contribute to creating well-designed places that are sustainable, more equal, feel safe and are shaped by their communities.

Sarah is an architect, urban designer and project manager with over 25 years’ experience helping public and private sector clients deliver residential-led projects from masterplans to individual homes. Prior to her current position, Sarah worked for nine years as development manager and then managing director at Solidspace, an independent architect-led developer. Before this working in local government as housing lead for an Ecotown in Hampshire. Working for over seven years at CABE, Sarah was head of urban design and homes, where she helped to embed design quality tools and processes in large scale government programmes.

Duncan Laird

Head of Urban, National Trust

Duncan is an urban specialist with more than 23 years of experience leading complex urban transformation, placemaking, and access work across the public, private, and third sectors. He has held Director and Head of Urban roles at the National Trust, leading national strategy, partnerships, and place-based programmes. Previously he worked as an Associate Director with Arup leading the Integrated City Planning team in the west and held senior roles with Bristol and Buckinghamshire councils. He is a chartered transport planner and holds masters in Environmental Management and Urban Influencing. Duncan is passionate about meeting the needs of underserved communities and adaptive re-use.

Dr Idrees Rasouli

Associate Professor of Design and Urban Innovation, ARU

Dr Idrees Rasouli is Associate Professor of Design and Urban Innovation and Chair of DesignLab at ARU, Cambridge. He is an Academician of the Academy of Urbanism and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. His work sits at the intersection of design-led innovation, advanced technologies, and urban policy, exploring how cities and creative industries can navigate a more just post-oil future, technological change, and evolving cultural economies. He is a Member of the East of England Creative Industries Board and leads major transdisciplinary initiatives, including the Creativity × AI Forum, Create Cambridge, and X-Crop, bringing academia, industry, government, and communities together to shape new models of inclusive innovation and mission-led collaboration. His research develops critical and structural frameworks for designing more resilient and socially integrated urban systems and the connected conditions that enable them, with particular attention to context, spatial dynamics, civic engagement, and socio-ecological resilience. Across his work, he explores how design can strengthen the capacity of communities, organisations, and cities to adapt, innovate, and thrive under constraint.

Sophia de Sousa (moderator)

Chief Executive, The Glass-House Community Led Design

As Chief Executive at The Glass-House Community Led Design since 2005, Sophia is an impassioned champion of design quality and place equity. She advocates and enables collaborative design processes and has extensive experience in designing and delivering strategic support, training and practical resources for community groups and professionals alike.

Sophia is also Visiting Fellow at The Open University, as well as an AoU Academician and RSA Fellow. She has a background in architecture and urbanism, education, community empowerment and multi-cultural issues, having lived and worked in the UK, US and Italy. She is passionate about cross-sector and interdisciplinary working and about finding opportunity in complexity and diversity.

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