Ken has travelled and lectured extensively in Europe, Australia and North America. In 1999 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Middlesex University.
His work concerns the quality of contemporary urban life, in place-making, identity and belonging, having worked with the think-tanks, Comedia & Demos on issues such as new forms of civil society, the planning and design of urban landscapes, the renewal of public institutions – notably parks, public libraries and even cemeteries - and the pleasures of life in the open air.
From 2001 – 2002 he served as a member of the UK government's Urban Green Spaces Task Force. He was the English Editor to the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements report "The State of the World's Cities", published in New York in June 2001. In 2002 he was appointed as an expert adviser to the Historic Buildings and Land Panel of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), and in 2003 to the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE).
Ken has lived with his family in Hackney, East London, for more than 30 years, and is married to Larraine Worpole, the photographer. A keen cyclist, Ken Worpole has a regular column in the London Cyclist magazine. He also writes and reviews for The Guardian, The Independent, Prospect, The Times Higher Educational Supplement and the online political forum OpenDemocracy.
For lecturing purposes, you can contact him at:
Website - www.worpole.net
The final report of the extensive study undertaken by Comedia in association with Demos into the use of Britain’s urban parks.
The author argues that greater choice in schooling and housing is the only way to address deep-seated problems of low mobility and restricted opportunity in many urban areas.
This book draws on a series of pathbreaking studies of town centres, libraries and parks which argue that the key to safe and enjoyable public spaces is to make them full of activity.
Develop-ment at a local level can help maximise human and material resources by linking environmental improvements to job creation.