The Missions | Urban Development Reform Organisation

We have five missions, all of public importance.

1. To provide a forum for public and specialist debate on urban development.

2. To propose specific law and policy reform in the UK and in other jurisdictions through our 2026 Urban Development Law and

Policy Review: UK and International paper, due to be published in late-2026.

3. To identify and protect both designated and undesignated heritage assets under threat from demolition.

4. To investigate allegations of corruption and other improper relationships between government and private developers.

5. To provide informal, confidential advice to residents and business-owners fighting urban development proposals.

While many of our staff have formal legal training, we do not purport to provide professional legal advice, nor are we a public body, nor a body exercising a public function. We are an independent organisation interested in furthering the public interest. We always advise individuals to seek formal legal advice when they are subject to legal proceedings or when they require an intensified level of assistance upon which they can rely.

Missions 1, 2, and 3 require an extensive research apparatus. We have procedures and resources in place that allow us to acquire open- and closed-source, up-to-date information. We are currently working across a dozen countries with as many industries to put together our 2026 Urban Development Law and Policy Review: UK and International paper, due to be published in late-2026.

Due to the sensitive nature of Missions 4 and 5, we are often bound by confidentiality agreements. We cannot discuss activities carried out under those two Missions.

We operate on a firm, principled basis.

We are an internationally oriented organisation devoted to reforming the law and policy that govern how we build and develop our cities.

We have two central concerns: one procedural, the other substantive.

The procedural concern is that a focus on speed of development means that residents and business-owners are neither consulted, involved, nor compensated sufficiently when faced with development proposals.

The substantive concern is that the content of urban development proposals focusses on macro-economic development at the expense of heritage protection, local business interests, and the organic growth of our cities and communities. The combined effect is that our cities are being built in a way that ignores and erodes our history, our psychology as human beings, social cohesion, and sustainable economic growth.

The results are clear: unprecedented social divisions, rises in civil disobedience and political disenfranchisement, decreases in individual creativity and innovation, and serious risks to public health and safety.

We have no political affiliation. We are a not-for-profit organisation. We draw our staff and members from the University of Cambridge, among other world-leading institutions. We are developing an international network of academics, town planners, historians, archaeologists, political figures, behavioural scientists, and lawyers who share our concerns.

Our immediate aim in the UK is to propose reforms in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the Compulsory Purchase Act 1968, and the Local Government Act 1999.

Our ultimate aim in the UK is to encourage a fundamental rethinking of how and why we develop our cities. Public transport efficiency need not come at the expense of public health. Housing requirements need not come at the expense of social cohesion and humane living conditions. Aggregate economic development need not come at the expense of individual innovation, creativity, and health. We want the UK to become the world-leader in fair and effective urban development. Our contribution is to offer a coherent legal and policy basis for such a vision.

We have similar goals around the world.