Jay Sundaresan

Jay is an interdisciplinary urbanist trained in architecture, urban design, planning, urban sociology, and human geography. He has a PhD in Regional and Urban Planning and is passionate about the connections between planning policy, design, community aspirations and the environment. Prior to joining the Spring Cohort 2023, he worked in a range of urban design roles in the public and private sectors. 

His notable achievements include successfully negotiating public interest outcomes from many residential, institutional, mixed-use (re)development projects and writing the evidence base on tall buildings at Lewisham, as well as contributing to Haringey’s Economic Regeneration Policy. He designed and implemented many publicly acclaimed housing, rehabilitation, urban design, and conservation projects in Kerala India, including a UNESCO award-winning project.

London Borough of Hounslow

During his placement as the Principal Urban Design Officer, Jay worked on Development Management (pre-application negotiations, commenting on planning applications, managing the Design Review Panel, Running Urban Design Surgery), Operations (reporting, process management), and Policy (Hounslow Public Realm Design Guidance).