Professor Charles Walker

Professor Charles Walker is Head of Huri Te Ao, the School of Future Environments at Auckland University of Technology. Charles established SoFE in 2020 to rethink how we might live together, differently, in our changing world.

The School offers programs in Architecture, Civil, Construction and Built Environment Engineering, Creative Technologies, Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Project Management. The curriculum emphasises systems thinking, green infrastructures, regenerative design, and indigenous Māori knowledge.

Charles was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and studied architecture in the UK and USA. He has a MSc in Urban Development and a PhD from the University of Auckland on the ethics of professional accreditation. He has taught and practiced architecture, urbanism and creative technologies in the UK, Middle East, Turkiye, Australia, and the USA. From 2015 to 2017 he was Director of Creative Intelligence, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Technology Sydney. In 2016, he was appointed by the NZ Institute of Architects as Creative Director for Future Islands, the New Zealand Pavilion at the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale."