Professor Mike Raco
Chair of Urban Governance and Development
Mike Raco (B.A., Ph.D. London) is Professor of Urban Governance and Development in the Bartlett School of Planning, University College London. His background is in Planning, Geography, and Urban Studies. He has published widely on the topics of urban governance and regeneration, urban sustainability, social diversity, and the politics of urban and regional economic development.
He recently led a team at UCL on an EU-funded project named DIVERCITIES that explored the governance and management of diversity polices in London in comparison with other cities in the EU and in Canada. Recent works include: The Future of Sustainable Cities: Critical Reflections (with John Flint, Policy Press, Bristol); State-led Privatisation and the Demise of the Democratic State: Welfare Reform and Localism in an Era of Regulatory Capitalism (Routledge, London); and Regenerating London: Governance, Sustainability and Community in a Global City (with Rob Imrie and Loretta Lees, Routledge, London). He formerly lectured at King’s College London and the Universities of Reading and Glasgow.

Recent London posts
Market maturity and investment in London’s Student Accommodation sector
No longer ‘alternative’? One of the most startling findings from the London team’s exploration of investment into residential real estate was the significant volume of capital flowing into the purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) sector. Research on investment...
Planning for residential ‘value’ in London?
Image by David SamuelIn a seminar for the Department of Land Economy at the University of Cambridge, London WHIG team member Nicola Livingstone reflected on findings from a recently published paper that explores planning for ‘value’ through densification. The paper...
The Geographies of Viability Planning
In a recent new publication Whig researchers Jess Ferm and Mike Raco explore the geographies of viability-driven planning reform in England.Drawing on interviews and fieldwork in London and the North East region, the paper reflects on the variable outcomes and...