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Create Streets
Formation14 December 2012
FounderNicholas Boys Smith
TypeDual structure: private limited company; charitable incorporated organisation
Legal statusUK registered charity; UK registered company
PurposeUrban design research, advocacy and co-design promoting "gentle density"
Headquarters81 Lambeth Walk, London, England
Region
United Kingdom (principal)
International projects in North Africa, Western Europe, Ukraine and Middle East
ProductsResearch reports; master planning; design codes; co-design; education
MethodsEvidence-based urban design; community engagement; policy advocacy
Key people
Nicholas Boys Smith (Managing Director / founder)[1]
Main organ
Create Streets Foundation (charity no. 1171928)
Create Streets Ltd (company no. 08332263)
Budget£163,302 income (Create Streets Foundation, FY 2023)
Websitewww.createstreets.com

Create Streets is a UK-based design practice, town-builder and think tank[2] specialising in urban design, planning and regeneration.[3] It operates through a dual structure comprising the Create Streets Foundation (registered charity no. 1171928) and its affiliated social enterprise Create Streets Ltd (company no. 08332263). Established in 2012 by Nicholas Boys Smith MBE, Create Streets is dedicated to promoting the principle of "gentle density" — the development of street-based, low-rise, high-density neighbourhoods — through research, advocacy, master-planning, design coding and co-design.

The organisation's mission centres on demonstrating how traditional, human-scaled urban design can enhance quality of life, social cohesion, public support for development, and long-term economic value. Its research and design philosophy have had significant influence on UK government policy, most notably through Boys Smith's role as co-chair of the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission (2018–2020) and as interim Chair of the Office for Place (from 2023), both of which have advanced the national adoption of design codes and community-led placemaking.

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Create Streets operates as a dual-structure organisation. Create Streets Ltd is a private limited company (no. 08332263)[4] incorporated on 14 December 2012.[5] It functions as a multidisciplinary urban design consultancy ("town-builder" and think-tank) and undertakes commercial master planning, design coding and planning research under the Create Streets brand.[6] Nicholas Boys Smith set up the company after serving as a director at Lloyds Banking Group and a consultant with McKinsey & Co., and after advising George Osborne's Tax Reform Commission.[7]

The Create Streets Foundation is a separate Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) registered with the UK Charity Commission (charity no. 1171928).[8] Its constitution was adopted on 28 February 2017.[9] The Foundation's stated objects are to advance public education in subjects related to the built environment – especially links between urban form, health and community wellbeing – through research, training and dissemination of findings.[10] In practice the foundation conducts community training (e.g. co-design workshops) and independent research on housing, streets and public space. Although sharing staff and leadership, the Foundation's legal status is distinct from the Ltd company, allowing it to operate as a charitable research body.

Governance and financials

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Create Streets Ltd is governed by a board of directors. Company filings list Nicholas Boys Smith (director since incorporation) as Managing Director.[11] Other current directors include:

The board has overseen Create Streets' consultancy and research activities from its headquarters on Lambeth Walk, London. The Create Streets Foundation is governed by a board of trustees. As of 2024, the trustees listed in official filings are:

  • Harry Briggs (Chair), investor (Managing Partner at OMERS Ventures).
  • Robin Warwick Edwards, a chartered accountant and fund manager who, among other roles, chairs Cresta Homes PLC.
  • Clare Mirfin, a partner at law firm Pinsent Masons specializing in development planning and large-scale housing projects.
  • Fabian Richter (also Treasurer of the charity) is a financial-sector executive (former director at Ruffer and Standard Life and co-founder of an investment firm) with an interest in urban planning.

Financially, the Foundation is a small charity. For the year ending 2023 it reported total income of £163,302 and expenditure of £79,997. This comprises grants, donations and consultancy income used to fund research, events and educational programs. Create Streets Ltd's accounts are filed with Companies House (latest accounts to March 2024).

Core philosophy and research

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Central to Create Streets' philosophy is the concept of "gentle density": creating compact, walkable neighbourhoods composed of traditional streets of terraced houses and low-rise flats, rather than concentrating development in high-rise towers.[12] The organisation argues that such environments are more popular, healthy and economically productive. For example, it highlights surveys indicating strong public preference for houses or small-scale residential streets: one industry survey found that roughly 65–75% of respondents preferred suburban-style housing layouts, and an analysis of multiple opinion studies reported that in aggregate 9 out of 14 surveys showed people favour houses over flats.[13] By contrast, Create Streets cites research showing that living in tall apartment blocks tends to reduce wellbeing: a review of studies reported that 92% of 12 surveys found lower satisfaction in "big block" housing, along with higher rates of depression and social isolation.[14] They also point to evidence that street-based neighbourhoods enhance social cohesion and reduce crime (e.g. better natural surveillance and sense of place). In sum, they claim, gentle density optimizes the trade-off between personal space (gardens, privacy) and proximity (community life, infrastructure), leading to higher wellbeing and often greater long-term property values.

The group publishes research reports to underpin its claims. Notable examples include Beyond Location (2017, Create Streets Ltd), which used "big data" analysis to show that urban quality factors – such as aesthetics, greenery and local character – can influence property values and resident satisfaction as much as traditional factors like access to jobs.[15] Another output is No Place Left Behind (2020, Create Streets Foundation), a commissioned study exploring how community-led development can bolster local prosperity.[16] Earlier publications include the Building Beautiful Commission's reports (Creating Space for Beauty, 2019 and Living with Beauty, 2020) to which the group contributed, as well as Create Streets' own reports on estate regeneration, street design and planning simplification. In each case the emphasis is on empirical evidence linking form (street layout, building height, design coding) to outcomes like wellbeing, crime rates and economic value.

Policy impact and affiliations

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Create Streets has sought to shape national planning policy. Nicholas Boys Smith served as co-chair (with Sir Roger Scruton) of the UK Government's Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, an independent body set up in 2018. The Commission's final report Living with Beauty (published January 2020) drew heavily on Create Streets' ideas.[17] The government accepted many of these recommendations: Boys Smith later noted that the National Planning Policy Framework was revised to make "beauty" an explicit aim, and that a new National Model Design Code was published as a direct outcome.[18] In July 2023 the Ministry announced the Office for Place (an arm's-length advisory agency for design quality) to be based in Stoke-on-Trent, appointing Boys Smith as interim Chair.[19] In his statement, Boys Smith affirmed that the Commission's proposals had gained near-universal support and praised their implementation in policy and training materials.[20]

Beyond government bodies, Create Streets has engaged with municipal planning. For example, in responding to London's draft plan the organisation advocated introducing binding ballots for major estate redevelopments. Their submission argued that estate regeneration should not rely on token consultation, but on formal, neighbourhood forum–style ballots that follow a structured co-design process.[21] Many of its suggestions have been echoed in national discourse: a 2024 Housing Today article highlighted Create Streets' campaign for 16 key actions (including design codes and transit expansion) as well as calls to transform "box-land" industrial/retail parks into mixed-use streets.[22] The term "box-land" – large out-of-town single-use sites – was popularised in the article to describe areas that could be "reinvented" by adding housing and streets at gentle density.[23] Create Streets' proposals have drawn interest from both Conservative and Labour circles, due to their data-driven approach to building design that aims to address the UK's housing supply and public consent challenges simultaneously.

See Also

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References

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  1. ^ "New Year Honours List 2024 (CSV)". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 1 May 2025. Retrieved 2025-01-05. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 9 November 2025 suggested (help)
  2. ^ "The debate: We need new homes, where should they go?". www.bbc.com. Archived from the original on 2025-11-09. Retrieved 2025-11-09. Nicholas - from Create Streets, a housing think tank
  3. ^ "Graven Hill residents 'vindicated' after think tank review". www.bbc.com. Archived from the original on 2025-11-09. Retrieved 2025-11-09. The residents' association of the UK's biggest self-build community has said it feels "vindicated" after a think tank said the development was straying from its original vision. Graven Hill Residents' Association commissioned Create Streets to review Graven Hill Village Development Company Ltd's (GHVDC) latest plans. Senior urban designer George Payiatis said Graven Hill could end up being "not easily" distinguishable from other developments.
  4. ^ "Wayback Machine". www.camden.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 2025-09-05. Retrieved 2025-11-09. Create Streets Ltd company number: 08332263
  5. ^ "CREATE STREETS LTD. overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Incorporated on. Archived from the original on 2025-11-09. Retrieved 2025-11-09. 14 December 2012
  6. ^ "Our story - Create Streets". Create Streets. Archived from the original on 2025-11-09. Retrieved 2025-11-09. Create Streets is a social enterprise and multidisciplinary consultancy specialising in urban design, planning and regeneration. Our primary mission is to create beautiful, sustainable places of gentle density that prioritise well-being, social cohesion, and economic vitality.
  7. ^ "Nicholas Boys Smith Archives". Manhattan Institute. Archived from the original on 2025-11-09. Retrieved 2025-11-09. Prior to founding Create Streets, Boys Smith was a director at Lloyds Banking Group, a senior consultant at McKinsey & Co. and a political adviser. He was secretary of the Tax Reform Commission for the Rt Hon George Osborne. Boys Smith earned an MPhil with Distinction at the University of Cambridge, where he was president of the Cambridge Union.
  8. ^ "CREATE STREETS FOUNDATION overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Charity number. Archived from the original on 2025-11-09. Retrieved 2025-11-09. 1171928
  9. ^ "Wayback Machine". register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk. p. 4. Archived from the original on 2025-11-09. Retrieved 2025-11-09. Create Streets Foundation is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) registered with the Charity Commission and governed by its constitution, adopted on 28th February 2017. {{cite web}}: More than one of |at= and |page= specified (help)
  10. ^ "Wayback Machine". register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk. Objectives & Activities. Archived from the original on 2025-11-09. Retrieved 2025-11-09. The object of CSF for the public benefit is to advance the education of the public in subjects related to the built environment, successful development and the associations between urban form and mental health, physical health, community cohesion and pro-social behaviour by (a) providing training to community groups (above all in economically and socially disadvantaged areas) in the context of neighbourhood planning and urban design activities
  11. ^ "CREATE STREETS LTD. people - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. BOYS SMITH, Nicholas John. Archived from the original on 2025-11-09. Retrieved 2025-11-09. Director
  12. ^ "Our story - Create Streets". Create Streets. Archived from the original on 2025-11-09. Retrieved 2025-11-09. Create Streets is a social enterprise and multidisciplinary consultancy specialising in urban design, planning and regeneration. Our primary mission is to create beautiful, sustainable places of gentle density that prioritise well-being, social cohesion, and economic vitality.
  13. ^ "Wayback Machine" (PDF). www.bristolcivicsociety.org.uk. p. 14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2025-11-09. Retrieved 2025-11-09. They can be very good, they can work very well for some people - 65%- 75% of people in a survey preferred them. 9 out of 14 surveys preferred houses versus flats, they give you the space, they give you personal greenery, and people can be happier if you just look at the buildings in isolation.
  14. ^ "Wayback Machine" (PDF). www.bristolcivicsociety.org.uk. More data: happiness and high rises. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2025-11-09. Retrieved 2025-11-09. Another piece of research is that living in big blocks tends not to be as good for you. Satisfaction: 92% of the 12 studies show that satisfaction was lower when you live in a big block. There's higher rates of depression, serious mental health issues, suicide. It is a lot harder to raise children.
  15. ^ "Wayback Machine" (PDF). www.createstreets.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2025-11-09. Retrieved 2025-11-09. These factors vary but are predictable. In contrast to most conventional economic models or urbanists' assumptions, beauty, a sense of locational memory and the urban quality of a place matters sometimes as much and sometimes more than connectivity, space and proximity to a place of work. Our own, we believe uniquely wide ranging, analysis of 160,000 data
  16. ^ "Wayback Machine". register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 2025-11-09. Retrieved 2025-11-09. Launched at the beginning of August 2020, the purpose of the No Place Left Behind Commission into community prosperity and placemaking is to help improve the quality of lives lived in undervalued neighbourhoods, by promoting changes to policy and practice that can improve place, health, happiness, wellbeing and a sense of community and agency.
  17. ^ "Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission". GOV.UK. Reports. Archived from the original on 2025-11-09. Retrieved 2025-11-09. The Commission published its final report – Living with beauty – on 30 January 2020. This sets out the Commission's recommendations to government.
  18. ^ "Office for Place - A Statement from the Chair". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 2025-05-01. Retrieved 2025-11-09. The government positively accepted our report and acted upon many of the recommendations, including making significant changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, setting beauty as an aim of the planning system, and publishing the National Model Design Code, which is a superb document that I commend. Major themes in both documents included the need to re-green our streets and squares, to rejuvenate our streets' vitality as places to dwell not just roads to rush through, to make planning more visual, less verbal.
  19. ^ "Office for Place - A Statement from the Chair". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 2025-05-01. Retrieved 2025-11-09. In a speech earlier today (24 July 2023), the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities announced that the Office for Place will be based in Stoke-on-Trent, and that Nicholas Boys Smith has been appointed as interim Chair.
  20. ^ "Office for Place - A Statement from the Chair". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 2025-03-19. Retrieved 2025-11-09. Those who have been following our journey since the inception of the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission will know that when we started, many people said our task was without purpose and our aims without merit. However, our proposals were greeted with near universal support. One Stirling-prize winning architect said "I'm finding myself agreeing with almost everything, which is a surprise". Calmly, consensually and I hope empirically we had reviewed the quality, popularity and sustainability of the places we create and had found them wanting.
  21. ^ "Wayback Machine" (PDF). www.london.gov.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-11-03. Retrieved 2025-11-09.
  22. ^ "Create Streets calls on next government to build homes on industrial parks". Housing Today. Archived from the original on 2025-11-09. Retrieved 2025-11-09. The proposals include reimagining land used for big box retail sheds and light industrial units by mixing in homes and walkable streets.
  23. ^ "Create Streets calls on next government to build homes on industrial parks". Housing Today. Archived from the original on 2025-11-09. Retrieved 2025-11-09. The group said the so-called 'box-land' which often stretches along motorways and around the edges of towns serves important economic needs but is "incredibly wasteful" of space and expensive to create and services. "It can often be reinvented in such a way to maintain existing uses but also allow it to 'grow' into real places by mixing in 'gentle density' homes," the document said.
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