Gillian Black

Background

About Gillian Black

I am an expert for the Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI) and contributor to the Global Street Design Guide which is a landmark guide offering technical details to inform street design that prioritises pedestrians, cyclists, and transit riders in cities around the world. I currently provide direct advice and support to the Scottish Government in the development of their national guidance, legislation, strategies, and initiatives. I also support local authorities to contribute to sustainable development whilst seeking to achieve national outcomes. Through strategic and local planning, I establish large scale collaborations and engagement programmes across multiple partners including departments and statutory government agencies to help ensure plans are delivery focused, place based and people centred. I also apply my extensive experience to mediate and broker difficult conversations that help others to navigate and apply practical solutions to complex place problems. I directly led on the transformation of city design and planning for Scotland’s largest city by establishing Frameworks and Strategies. This enabled the city to plan for becoming more safer, people orientated, green, and walkable. I was also a member of the select judging panel for a regeneration project with Malmo Stad in Sweden and developed partnerships with municipalities around the world including, Auckland, Melbourne, and the USA, to share learning. I also directly led the development of award-winning town planning regeneration frameworks and initiatives which are used as national case studies for good practice. I have provided advice for major investment decisions within city centre's and neighbourhoods and worked in collaboration with architects, planners and developers to improve their develoment proposals and design concepts. I also have experience of investigating and resolving breaches of planning control and provided direct expert advice and guidance to avoid prosecution.