Cullingworth, J(ohn) Barry 1929-2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born September 11, 1929, in Nottingham, England; died February 6, 2005. City planner, educator, and author. A former professor at the University of Toronto, Cullingworth was best known for his authoritative books on urban planning in the United States and Great Britain. Originally, he had planned to follow in his father's footsteps to become a musician. After studying piano at Trinity College, however, he concluded he lacked sufficient talent. He enrolled, instead, at the London School of Economics, where he earned a sociology degree in 1955. He then found a job at the University of Manchester as a research assistant, later becoming a lecturer in social administration. During the 1960s, he lectured at the University of Durham and was then a senior lecturer in urban studies at the University of Glasgow. It was during this period that Cullingworth became fascinated by urban planning, releasing his first notable book, Housing Needs and Planning Policy, in 1960. His research and writing also led to work as a consultant for such groups as the Economic Commission for Europe and the World Health Organization. In 1966 Cullingworth joined the University of Birmingham faculty as director of the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, and two years later also accepted a professorship. The 1960s were a pivotal time in urban planning, and Cullingworth is credited with influencing the city government of Birmingham, England, and preventing decisions that would have destroyed the functionality and livability of the city. Cullingworth left the university in 1972 and served as director of the Scottish Planning Exchange for three years; from 1975 to 1977 he was the official historian of the Cabinet Office at Whitehall, London. He then returned to teaching in 1977, when he moved to Toronto, Ontario, and became professor of urban and regional planning and chair of the department until 1980. He was professor of planning in the geography department until 1983. Cullingworth's final teaching job was at the University of Delaware, where he was professor of urban affairs and public policy from 1983 until his 1994 retirement. Returning to England, he was made a fellow at the University of Cambridge, where he remained until 1999. Among his many notable works are Town and Country Planning in England and Wales: An Introduction (1964; fourteenth edition, 2005), Problems of an Urban Society (1973), Essays on Housing Policy (1979), Urban and Regional Planning in Canada (1987), Planning in the USA: Policies, Issues, and Processes (1997), and British Planning: Fifty Years of Urban and Regional Policy (1999).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Times (London, England), March 30, 2005, p. 62.

OTHER

Royal Town Planning Institute Web site, http://www.rtpi.org.uk/. (April 8, 2005).