Dr Sonia Freire Trigo
Lecturer in Urban Planning
Sonia (MArch; MSc; PhD) is a lecturer in urban planning, with a background as an architect and urban designer. Before moving into academia, she worked for different planning consultancies in Spain, gaining considerable experience in the management and the delivery of urban projects.
She taught housing and development courses at LSBU for three years before joining the Bartlett School of Planning (UCL) as a lecturer in 2018. Her research interests are focused on urban development and urban regeneration processes, with particular attention to the politics of planning mediating the concepts of urban change and land scarcity.
Sonia has worked as a research associate in research projects funded by the European Commission, RICS, RTPI, and other funding bodies. Her latest publications include: a paper about her research on vacant land in London, in International Planning Studies (2019); and a paper about planning risk and residential development, with colleagues from UCL and LSE, in Planning Theory & Practice (2019).

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...