Alumni spotlight: Lauren Uba

Discover how Lauren Uba’s journey through the Sustainable Urbanism MSc shaped her path from urban design to climate action and community-led transformation.

About Lauren

Lauren Uba’s passion for urban design and sustainable development led her to the Sustainable Urbanism MSc at The Bartlett School of Planning, where she explored the deep connections between people, place, and policy. From critical debates that challenged her perspective to hands-on projects reimagining urban food systems, Lauren’s time at UCL shaped her understanding of sustainable cities. Read Lauren's spotlight to explore how she's applying that knowledge beyond traditional planning, working at the intersection of climate action, resilience, and community-led transformation.

A leap into sustainable urban development

I was living in Los Angeles, and working for a bike share start-up. At some point, I realised that it doesn’t matter how many bikes are on the ground if there isn’t sufficient infrastructure for safe and active transportation.

In November 2016, I took a solo trip to explore several different European cities. What landscapes were inspiring? Where did urban navigation in a foreign country feel easy, and where did it feel difficult? Where does urbanisation support life, and where does it stifle it? What does a good life look and feel like?

Eventually my exploration led me to London, and I remember being allowed to pop into the Bartlett Library at Central House to have a look around. I felt so inspired by and connected to the material I found on the shelves.

In 2017-18, I took a leap of faith, quit my job, and applied to just one course—the Sustainable Urbanism MSc. I felt such a resonance with the library and with the course curriculum that I knew it was the next step for me.

Transformative learning: How critical debates shaped Lauren's urban perspective

At The Bartlett, I began to see the world with new eyes. I started seeing what is and what can be: the two-way interaction between people and their environment, between internal and external systems and structures. My peers and I learned different models for how change happens, questioned the social imaginary and what is possible, inquired into agency, participation, and good governance, and learned to think systemically and holistically. The more I could see, the more I could see how much needed to change. I struggled with significant climate anxiety, and have spent the last six years attempting to better understand and navigate the pathway from individual climate anxiety to collective climate action.

I enjoyed most of the modules that I took, although one of the most transformative was called 'Critical Debates in Sustainable Urbanism' which kept me on my toes and critical of my engrained ways of seeing. I began exploring the philosophy of Donna Haraway, Anna Tsing, Bruno Latour, and Amartya Sen who have remained foundational to my approach to integrating systems change theory with practice.

I also loved some of the collaborative design projects. Two in particular stand out—a project where our team looked at the area surrounding Waterloo Station as a food desert, mapping where the green peas in the Tesco came from, and proposing to turn Waterloo Station itself into WaterFood Station, with circular food systems (aquaponics, etc.) providing nutritional, zero food mile meals with local employment possibilities. Our cohort also had the opportunity to travel to Stockholm to design a regional development proposal. We presented to the municipality our design which focused on connection to place, community, and nature.

How sustainable urbanism shaped Lauren's career in community organisation and climate action

While I decided not to become a professional urban planner, the Sustainable Urbanism MSc fundamentally impacted how I see the world and my work in the world. The theoretical understanding of sustainability, energy and resource systems, the climate crisis, and alternative development pathways that I received at UCL have been foundational to my current career.

After the course ended, I made another leap into the field of social-ecological systems transformation. In 2020, I founded a community-led climate action organisation based on some of the principles I learned on the Sustainable Urbanism MSc. Since then, I have given speeches to German parliamentary candidates; participated in panels and podcasts on regenerative culture and climate action; provided support and resilience training to youth activists and emerging climate leaders from the UK, Germany, Tanzania, Egypt, Nepal, South Africa, and more; and was invited by the UK Government to attend COP26 to bring awareness of youth climate anxiety.

I am now a freelance facilitator and community organiser, currently working for two think tanks working at the intersection of climate, regeneration, wellbeing, culture, and society. I also facilitate workshops, programmes, and residencies centered on inner resilience and adaptation as an important part of climate resilience and adaptation.

I am grateful to the fantastic professors, lecturers, and support staff of the Sustainable Urbanism MSc, and also to my world-leading peers who were an incredible source of inspiration, joy and support.