Ricky Burdett is a London-based urban specialist with a wide portfolio of academic and consultancy activities at the international level. As a professor of urban studies he leads LSE Cities, a global center of research and teaching at the London School of Economics and Political Science and founded the authoritative Urban Age programme.

With his team at LSE, he is currently working with the cities of Addis Ababa and Athens on implementing sustainable development initiatives. Burdett acts as a consultant to national and city governments, private companies and philanthropic agencies. He was chief adviser on the London 2012 Olympics, a member of the UK Government Airport Commission, and acted as adviser to the mayor of London.

He sits on the jury for Royal Academy Architecture Prize and Dorfman Awards and was chair of the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize 2018. Burdett was appointed a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for services to urban planning and design in 2017 and was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the Royal College of Art in 2019.