Professor Emeritus John Handley OBE Professor Emeritus John Handley OBE

John Handley is an Emeritus Professor in Planning and Environmental Management at the University of Manchester. He started out as a lecturer and restoration ecologist at the University of Liverpool. He has worked in practice as a senior Planner with Merseyside County Council and as founding director of an NGO, The Groundwork Trust which developed into the national Groundwork network for community engagement in environmental regeneration. At the University of Manchester (since 1994), he jointly founded the Centre for Urban and Regional Ecology. His recent work at the University focused on the role of green infrastructure in moderating the impacts of climate change on urban areas and in improving quality of life for an ageing population. He is also actively engaged in local planning at the neighbourhood scale, specifically the Wilmslow Neighbourhood Plan, Transition Wilmslow and the Cheshire East Countryside Access Forum. Through the Lindow Moss Landscape Partnership he is currently involved in work to conserve, restore and interpret the landscape of Lindow Moss, an extensive peatland on the fringes of Wilmslow, Cheshire. John Handley is a laureate of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Global 500 for services to the environment. He holds an OBE for services to urban regeneration.