Nick Wates is a leading specialist on community planning and design. As a writer, researcher, practitioner and consultant, he has participated in, and chronicled, its development for over 30 years.
His most popular book is The Community Planning Handbook (Earthscan, 2000) which is also on the internet (www.communityplanning.net). Other books include Community Architecture (Penguin, 1987, with Charles Knevitt) and The Community Planning Event Manual (Earthscan, 2008). All three have been widely translated.
Born in 1951, he graduated with a First Class Honours degree in Architecture, Planning, Building and Environmental Studies and a Diploma in Development Planning from University College London. He has facilitated numerous community planning events in the UK and overseas and directed local regeneration initiatives, including the Hastings Urban Conservation Project in the early nineties.
Recent projects have included producing a Local Action Plan for Bexhill and advising on consultation on the Site Allocations Development Plan Document for Hastings Local Development Framework.
In 2011 he was invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts based on his ‘experience and expertise in urban planning and design’ and his ‘work to provide an accessible resource of best practice information in CommunityPlanning.net’.
Nick lives in Hastings, East Sussex and has two children, Mae and Max.