Ludo Campbell-Reid is Auckland Council’s Design Champion and General Manager of the Auckland Design Office, a department of multi-disciplinary design and place activation professionals charged with spearheading Auckland’s design-led renaissance.
As Design Champion, Ludo is accountable for achieving design excellence in council’s plans, policies and projects; working directly alongside the Mayor and city officials, the private sector and the community to deliver exemplary design outcomes and promoting the council’s design-led city agenda across the organisation, the wider Auckland community and internationally.
Ludo is a globally renowned city design and urban planning visionary with over 22 years public and private sector experience on large-scale city rejuvenation projects in London, Cape Town and Auckland. A renowned international keynote speaker on city transformation and urban design and planning; he also appears on television, radio and the trade press. In 2015, New Zealand’s Metro Magazine referred to him as one of Auckland’s Top 50 Most Influential Individuals.
Ludo is the Chairman of the Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) Design Alliance, Deputy Chair and Founding Trustee of Sea Cleaners Charitable Trust (NZ) and former Chair of the London Authorities Urban Design Forum.
Ludo was head-hunted to Auckland in 2006, following the recommendations of The Mayoral Task Force on Urban Design to address public concerns at the low quality of development springing up in the city. He has spent the last decade leading Auckland’s urban design revival under successive Mayors to help drive massive change in Auckland towards becoming one of the most liveable cities in the world.
Ludo has transformed central Auckland from being an ostracised and dull place of budget dollar shops to attracting global luxury-branded boutiques. He also introduced a pro-pedestrian approach in the city centre by turning neglected city streets into thriving business-friendly shared spaces. In certain “shared space” precincts retail hospitality takings have risen by 440%. Previously dubbed by Jan Gehl as the “city of cars,” Auckland is fast becoming a human-centred “city for people” where cycling, walking and public transport patronage has undergone a revolution. Auckland’s city centre is now a thriving cosmopolitan globally competitive centre. In 2016, Auckland was attributed the world’s 3rd most liveable city in the Mercer Quality of Living ranking and 8th in the Economist Intelligence Unit Liveability ranking.
In April 2016, Auckland reached a milestone in its long-term urban design strategy with a “Special Mention” in the prestigious Lee Kuan Yew World Cities Prize (won by City of Medellin) alongside leading innovative global cities – Vienna, Sydney and Toronto.
Prior to coming to Auckland, Ludo was the Founding CEO of Urban Design London (UDL) an organisation supported by the Mayor of London and UK Government and established by Transport for London (TfL), CABE (The Commission for Architecture in the Built Environment) and the 33 London Boroughs to raise the standard of urban design skills, awareness and delivery across London.
Previously as Senior Urban Designer at the London Boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Ludo led the masterplanning, urban design & architecture programme. This included involvement on some of the largest and most high-profile development schemes in London. This included involvement in early Olympic Bid Master Planning, Cross Rail and the on-going redevelopment of Canary Wharf, London’s 2nd Financial District at a time of unprecedented growth when over 40 per cent of all commercial activity in London was occurring there. During this time, Ludo was shortlisted in the Mayor of London’s London Planning Awards in the category of best Public Sector Planner or Organisation.
Working for the private sector in Cape Town (South Africa) during the 1990s, Ludo was a member of the on-going masterplanning team charged with the transformation of the world famous Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town’s Dockland areas. During this time, he was appointed as Chief Urban Designer & Technical Sporting Adviser to the Cape Town 2004 Olympic Bid Co.
He has a Post Graduate Master of Arts & Diploma in Urban Design (Oxford Brookes University, UK) and a BA Hons Degree in Urban Planning (Westminster University, London).
Ludo is a former member of the British Rowing Team.