Heather Claridge

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Heather Claridge is one of the leading voices in shaping people‑centred, climate‑ready places across Scotland. As Strategic Spatial Planning Group Manager for Glasgow City Region, she oversees the long‑term vision for one of the UK’s largest metropolitan areas, helping guide how the region grows, adapts and responds to the climate and nature crises. Her work brings together planning, design, infrastructure and partnership‑building to create place strategies that support healthier communities and a more resilient future.

Heather’s career spans influential roles in planning and urban design, including senior leadership at Architecture & Design Scotland, where she helped drive national thinking on design, climate action, town centres and collaborative placemaking. She has led major green and blue infrastructure programmes in Glasgow’s east end, supported regional regeneration initiatives in the Forth and Clyde canal corridor, and championed creative, community‑led approaches such as the award‑winning Stalled Spaces programme and urban lighting projects.

Widely recognised for her contribution to the sector, Heather is a Fellow of the RSA, an Academician of the Academy of Urbanism, a former RTPI UK Young Planner of the Year, and an Affiliate of UN‑Habitat’s Planners for Climate Action network. She also serves as Co-Chair for the Green Action Trust, reflecting her long‑standing commitment to tackling environmental and social inequalities through practical, place‑based action.

Heather is known for bringing creativity, clarity and collaboration to complex challenges, and for her belief that great places are built when people, nature and long‑term vision come together.