Speakers

Sem Lee is an urban strategist and social entrepreneur with over 11 years of experience in programme management, sustainability, and design. Deeply affected by the UK's housing crisis, she founded OURI Labs, a practice specialising in participatory research and design that works at the intersection of urban planning policy and practice to address the estimated £1.4bn annual cost to the NHS from poor housing conditions. Sem has been actively involved in community-led housing, serving two years as Chair of Forest Community Land Trust and a member for over 6 years; where she led community engagement, strategic partnerships, and organisational development. Sem continues to champion community-led housing as a critical affordable housing solution at national and local levels. Their work bridges research, policy and practice. Recent projects include developing best practice guidance for small sites development with London CLT (commissioned by GLA), evaluating healthy place-making programmes, and developing systems workshops for urban planning and public health teams within local authorities. Sem has also previously served as Lead Guest Editor at Cities & Health Journal, curating international research on urban health.