Dr. Julia King is an architect, teacher, and researcher whose work examines the complexities of our rapidly urbanizing world through a critical and community-centered lens. Her projects focus on those most marginalized by expansive urban development, ranging from the impacts of mass migration on the micro-economies of UK high streets to the design of decentralized sanitation systems for informal settlements in New Delhi. Across these contexts, King adopts a methodology of “unlearning”: setting aside preconceived knowledge in order to learn directly from communities, and working with them to design and test site-based strategies for alternative futures.

For nearly a decade, King was a Policy Fellow at the London School of Economics’ LSE Cities research center, where she developed influential work at the intersection of design, policy, and urban inequality. In 2024, she established her own practice, Julia King & Associates, which continues this mission through experimental outreach and community-led design initiatives.

She currently leads the Apprenticeship in City Design and Young Researcher-in-Residence programs, which address the exclusion of young people from increasingly privatized public spaces by engaging them in research and building projects. King’s work has been widely recognized, including the Emerging Woman Architect of the Year Award (2014) and the NLA Award (2016).