Matthew is an architect and academic who aims to bring people together to make better places through creative design, planning, research and engagement.

He is Associate Professor and Head of School at Birmingham School of Architecture and Design at Birmingham City University. Matthew’s practice-led research explores the role of design in creating thriving and resilient towns, high streets and smaller communities. In 2017 Matthew completed a PhD by design exploring place specific approaches to the development of rural towns and has been working in smaller communities as a designer, facilitator and advocate for over a decade. This culminated in the recently published RIBA book ‘Transforming Towns: Designing for Smaller Communities’, where he argues that designers have a vital role in exploring how we might adapt and transform our towns to help them thrive. Matthew continues to explore these themes through teaching, artist residencies, events and workshops, co-design, architecture and urban design, university-community collaborations, community-led planning and academic research and teaching. He is a member of West Midlands Combined Authority’s Town Centre Task Force and an Advocate in Practice for Design Commission for Wales.