Dr. Peter Cookson Smith is an architect, planner and urban designer. He has been resident in Hong Kong since 1977 when he founded Urbis Limited one of the first planning, environmental, and landscape consultancies in the Territory. The firm has since undertaken over 2000 projects in Hong Kong and the Asia-Pacific area, and won more than 100 local and international awards including the Urban Land Institute¡¦s Global Award for Excellence, and the American Waterfront Centre¡¦s Top Honour Award, in 2008. He was managing director of Urbis Limited until 1993 and has remained as a director of the firm since then. Prior to this he was an architect and planner for several UK consultancies based in London, directing numerous planning and urban design projects in the United Kingdom, North Africa and the Middle East.

He has over the past 30 years, directed or participated in more than 100 master planning, urban design projects and tourism studies for both public and private bodies in Hong Kong, China and other parts of S.E. Asia. In Hong Kong he directed some of Government's initial planning and landscape master planning studies for several new towns, notably Tai Po and Fanling, together with central area studies and control drawings, and directed large parts of Government¡¦s first strategic development investigation for the NW New Territories. He has also directed a number of environmental protection studies for both Government and various public institutions.

He has directed all planning and urban design work on a day-to-day basis for various inner harbour projects. These include the Central/Wan Chai Reclamation Feasibility Study and the ensuing studies of detailed Urban Design Parameters which involved 3-dimensional urban form studies, conceptual development proposals, CAD modelling and sketch designs. This project was awarded the Silver Medal in Hong Kong¡¦s Green Project Award Scheme in 1995 and the Hong Kong Institute of Planner¡¦s Silver Medal for 1996. The Expo Study which he directed for the Hong Kong Tourist Authority on the feasibility of holding an International Exposition in Hong Kong in 2001, was awarded the HKIP Silver Medal for 1998. The Heritage and Tourism Study which he directed to convert a group of 17 listed buildings in Hong Kong whilst respecting their historical status, was awarded the HKIP Silver Medal for 2002. in recent years he has also received the 1996 HKIP Award of Merit for Best Planning Paper and received Hong Kong¡¦s Green Award for Planning Research in 1996 and 2000.

He has participated at a senior level in major studies that have formed part of Government's Port and Airport Development Strategy. These include the West Kowloon Reclamation Study, the Urban Design Study for Planning and Development of South East Kowloon, North Lantau Port Peninsula and Western Harbour Studies and a number of planning and urban design studies for the KCRC and MTRC. He also directed some of the initial studies on urban development opportunities for the Land Development Corporation, including the production of potential urban development strategies for several major sub-regions and districts within the metropolitan area, and has been involved in urban regeneration studies for the new Urban Renewal Authority.

He has directed more than thirty planning and urban design projects in China since 1982. These have included the Qinzhou Regional Study and Fangcheng Port and Town Centre Study for the Guangxi Provincial Government; the Yangpu New Town, and Ya Long Wan Studies on Hainan Island; the Yichang City Project in the Three Gorges, Hubei Province; the Wai Tan Yuen Regeneration Study in Shanghai, and a number of projects in Guangdong Province - Nan Sha Peninsula, Hai Xin Island, Sha Jiao Island and Tung Kok Tau Port developments. In 1992 he directed a multi-disciplinary team to undertake the Kunming Dianchi National Tourist Resort Area, Yunnan Province. He has participated in urban planning and design studies for the South Bund District and Zhangjiagang Port Zone in Shanghai, the Xidan Street West area of Beijing and urban development feasibility studies for sites in Beijing, and in Fujian, Zhejiang, Szechuan and Jiangxi Provinces.

He writes regularly on the subject of urban design, and is the author of ¡¥The Urban Design of Impermanence¡¦ and ¡¥The Urban Design of Concession¡¦. He is an Honorary Professor at the Department of Architecture, the University of Hong Kong, and the Architectural Society of China Continuing Education Programme Postgraduate Course. He is currently Vice-President of the Hong Kong Institute of Planners, and Vice-President of the newly formed Hong Kong Institute of Urban Design.

EDUCATION/PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATION

• PhD, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University (RMIT)
• AA Diploma in Planning, Architectural Association, 1971
• Diploma in Architecture, University of Nottingham, 1968
• Registered Planner in Hong Kong
• Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute
• Member of the Hong Kong Institute of Planners
• Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects
• Member of HKAIA Urban Design Committee
• Convenor of the Joint HKIP/HKIA Urban Design Alliance
• Honorary Professor, Department of Architecture, the University of Hong Kong
• Member of Management Committee for Centre of Tall Building and Urban Habitat, the University of Hong Kong
• Member of the Urban Design Group (UK)
• Vice-Chairman of Project Chambers
• Member of Environmental Appeal Board Panel
• Visiting Scholar, Centre for Asian Studies, the University of Hong Kong
• Member of the Advisory Council for the Department of Urban Planning and Design, Faculty of Architecture, the University of Hong Kong
• Vice-President of the Hong Kong Institute of Planners
• Vice-President of the Hong Kong Institute of Urban Design
• Member of Hong Kong Trade Development Council Infrastructure Development Advisory Committee
• Chairman of HKIP Educational Accreditation Board
• Member of the Hong Kong Harbourfront Commission