Crafting urban identities

From London and Manchester to the cities of the Gulf and Asia, dramatically changing skylines are a clear testament to the scale and ambition of redevelopment and expansion that our urban areas are currently undergoing. Yet despite this geographic diversity, much of what is being built looks the same. How can we counter generic development in the design of growing cities? Read more

ProjectMIZA
Book / Complex City

Complex City is a detailed mapping of London’s historic layers, emerging from our work in characterisation studies. The book puts forward a new argument for character-based development.

Talk / Wilson Lecture 2023

On urban fabric: how did we lose it, and do we still need it?

Project / White City PlaceThe changing face of White City
Project / Canada Water MasterplanGreen and blue
View: King's Cross
Research / London’s Olympic LegacyEast Bank Exhibition

East Bank is opening. At the heart of Queen Elizabeth Park, the project is the UK’s newest cultural quarter. To mark this milestone, Allies and Morrison has curated a new public exhibition.

ProjectAl Balad, Jeddah
Research / SustainabilitySustainability Strategy

The climate emergency demands a paradigm shift in our everyday lives. This is why we have developed our Sustainability Strategy to underpin what we do and inform how we design.

View: Madinat al Irfan
Project / Madinat al IrfanAs if it had always been there
Book / Citymakers: Pragmatics of the Picturesque

The Picturesque has come to influence how we look at and respond to the city. We investigate what the picturesque is, as both a theory of historic origins and as a practical design tool for urbanists.

Project / King's CrossA work of urban repair

Talk / Citymakers - What we leave behind, Urban Legacies: Future

Can we create cities for the future, when we have no idea what the future will be?

View: District//S
ProjectFuture Shoreditch
Project / Wood WharfCanary Wharf v 2.0
Book / Citymakers: A new Urban Model

Msheireb Downtown Doha has sought to engage with a growing Gulf city's local climate and culture. To better appreciate it, we explored it as a case study in urban change.

Research / Madinat al IrfanUrban Picturesque

Urban Picturesque: on composing, representing and experiencing the city

Project / Msheireb Downtown DohaFor culture and climate
Research / Fabric of PlaceOn public, private and communal space

On public, private and communal space

Book / Citymakers: Exploring Models of Urban Development

To understand how new pieces of city emerge (or how existing ones evolve), we went back to study three models of urban development.

Project / London's Olympic LegacyPlaying the long game
Book / Fabric of Place

The Fabric of Place explores how cites, towns and villages can evolve and change by building on their historic form and identity rather than by sacrificing them.