About Urban Designers Institute Aotearoa
The Urban Designers Institute Aotearoa (UDIA) was established in 2024 as an Incorporated Society.
The UDIA is managed by a National Council. The National Council is responsible for overseeing the ongoing operation of the UDIA. This includes setting and maintaining membership requirements and continuing professional development, administering the membership application process, producing and monitoring practice notes.
The National Council will consist of a minimum of five members; with at least two based within Te-Ika-a-Māui North Island and one based within Te Waipounamu South Island. The initial National Council has eleven founding members across Aotearoa.
Chair: Lisa Mein
Deputy Chair: Josie Schröder
Treasurer: Nick Rae
Memberships & Standards Manager: Anna Wood / Ian Munro (shared role)
Other National Council Members: Alistair Ray, Graeme McIndoe, Lauren White, Dr Lee Beattie, Tim Church and Yu-Ning Liu.
The Council
Lisa Mein
Chair
Company: Mein Urban Design and Planning Ltd
Qualifications: BPlan; MA Urban Design; Cert. in Public Participation (IAP2)
Lisa is a qualified Urban Designer and Planner with more than 28 years’ experience in Aotearoa, the UK and Ireland. Her experience has spanned all facets of urban design in public and private sectors. Lisa is actively involved in championing quality urban design outcomes in our urban environments, including in her role as co-chair of Urban Design Forum Aotearoa (2020-2024), through her many panel positions and in the urban design advice she provides to her clients and colleagues. In both her professional and personal life, Lisa is passionate about reinforcing a sense of place for communities and creating places all people can enjoy.
Josie Schröder
Deputy Chair
Company: Urban Opera NZ
Qualifications: BPlan; MA Urban Design
For over 25 years Josie has sought to craft urban places that express local identity, support equity and reinforce the importance of the natural environment. She has significant experience in local authority urban design roles, consistently elevating urban design practice and standards.
Josie collaborates with communities and development entities to achieve their vision for vibrant, equitable neighbourhoods and cities.
Her more recent efforts include supporting community-led biodiversity restoration projects in Ōtautahi Christchurch’s parks and riverside reserves.
A longstanding member of the UDF, Recognised Practitioner of Urban Design (UK), MNZPI.
Nick Rae
Treasurer
Company: Transurban
Qualifications: BLA; Master of Urban Design
Nick is a qualified urban designer and landscape architect who has a desire to create great places for people whilst embracing our natural environment. Nick’s career has seen him work and study in New Zealand, the UK, Europe, Saudi Arabia and Australia.
Nick leads the team at Transurban, where a cross-disciplinary approach integrates urban design, urban development and resource management.
Nick is driven “to achieve the best we can with the tools and opportunities we have with a passion for achieving great outcomes for people and the environment."
Anna Wood
Membership & Standards
Company: Hastings District Council
Qualifications: MUrbDes (Hons): MPlan (Hons): BPlan (Hons)
Anna has 20 years experience working across central and local government, in private practice and in the third-sector, giving her a strong understanding of how the design and development sector works. With a passion for master planning and community participatory design processes, Anna thrives in design workshops and multi-disciplinary project teams. Anna’s career highlights include being in the NZ Urban Design Protocol team, working at The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment and establishing the design programme for the Eastern Porirua Regeneration Project.
Ian Munro
Membership & Standards
Company: self-employed
Qualifications: B.Plan; M.Plan; M.Arch[Urb Des]; M.EnvLS; M.EngSt
Ian has worked in local government and private practice, and since 2014 has been self-employed as a planner and urban designer. Ian regularly lectures at the University of Auckland and presents at industry conferences. His work takes him across New Zealand and includes urban growth and structure planning, urban master planning, RMA plan changes, and resource consents from large-scale subdivisions down to the level of individual buildings. Ian is highly experienced in public hearings and processes, and regularly provides evidence as an expert witness.
Alistair Ray
Company: Jasmax
Qualifications: BA (Hons) Planning; Diploma Town Planning; MA Urban Design
Alistair joined Jasmax in 2008 and is a Principal and head of the Urban Design & Master-planning team. Alistair has over 30 years of experience as an urban planner and urban designer from the UK and New Zealand and has been practicing as an urban designer since 2000. Alistair helped to teach the MA Urban Design at Auckland University between 2010 and 2017, was the Urban Design Forum National Committee Chair between 2018 and 2022 and initiated the national Urbanism conference in Wellington in 2018 and Auckland in 2023.
Graeme
McIndoe
Company: McIndoe Urban
Qualifications: BArch (Hons); MA Urban Design; FNZIA
Graeme is an architect and urban designer and, with approaching 40 years post-graduate experience in urban design, has been involved from the beginning. He is founding director of Wellington-based McIndoe Urban, lectured for many years on urban design and architecture at Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Architecture and Design, was involved in the Urban Design Protocol initiative, chairs various design panels, and provides urban design consultancy to the public and private sectors around the country.
Lauren White
Company: Urban Acumen Ltd
Qualifications: BAS; Master of City Planning & Urban Design (MCPUD)
Lauren's career as an urban designer spans nearly 25 years and includes working in both the public and private sectors in New Zealand and abroad. She founded Urban Acumen Ltd in 2020 and focusses on structure and master planning, plan changes, detailed site development and feasibility in Auckland and other regions. She is a Professional Teaching Fellow at the University of Auckland and through both her position as Chair on the Auckland Urban Design Panel and her role as consultant for a number of District Councils, is often engaged in design review and assessment.
Dr Lee Beattie
Company: University of Auckland
Qualification:B.Plan; PostGradDip Urban Design; M.Sc; PhD in Urban Planning
Dr Lee Beattie is an urban designer and urban planner with almost 30 years professional experience. He is an Associate Professor of Urban Design and Head of the University of Auckland’s School of Architecture and Planning, where he teaches urban design theory and practice and master-planning. His current research interests explore the factors and barriers preventing the delivery of compact and quality urban form that is sustainable, resilient, liveable, meets the needs of local residents and reduces travel demand in both the local and international (Asia/Pacific rim) context.
Tim Church
Company: Boffa Miskell
Qualifications: MA Urban Design; BLA (Hons); NZILA Registered Landscape Architect
Tim is a qualified urban designer with a landscape architecture background and over 26 years’ professional experience, both in Aotearoa New Zealand and overseas. He is a Partner at Boffa Miskell, based in their Tāhuna | Queenstown office. Tim has had three terms on the Urban Design Forum Aotearoa National Committee (2018 – 2024), representing Te Waipounamu | South Island, including a position on the Urbanism NZ conference 2023 Advisory Committee. He is a Christchurch Urban Design Panel member and CPTED practitioner.
Spatial / master planning, policy development and complex community infrastructure projects are his strengths.
Yu-Ning Liu
Company: Urban Synthesis Ltd.
Qualifications: BAS (UoA); Master of Urban Development and Design (UNSW)
Yu-Ning is a qualified Urban Design and Development professional with over 20 years of international experience in Australia, the UK, and New Zealand. Her expertise spans various aspects of urban design, acquired from working in various interdisciplinary organisations, architectural practices, and local government. Yu-Ning is dedicated to promoting smart growth and enhancing kaitiakitanga of the built environment, specialising in place-led design, spatial planning, urban design review and assessment, and regeneration. She has served on the National Committee of the Urban Design Forum and as a guest critic for Master of Urban Design studios.