We conduct research and create, incubate, and scale practical ideas that have the power to transform cities and our lifestyles within them to be healthy, green and sustainable.

Tranquil City is an environmental research and innovation company that uses scientific evidence to develop practical solutions that increase nature connection. We provide tools that encourage people to change how they interact with and experience cities and measure their impact on wellbeing.

Our purpose is to make the case for nature in cities to benefit the health and wellbeing of people and the natural world.

We do our work in four distinct areas:

  • Research – to inform
  • Data Maps – to plan
  • Digital Interventions – to encourage
  • Impact Assessments – to evidence

Team

Grant Waters

CEO & Acoustician

Grant Waters

Grant Waters is the CEO and has a background in acoustic consultancy with specific expertise in urban soundscapes, GIS techniques and inter-disciplinary collaboration and innovation. He has led projects for governmental bodies, including Defra, Natural England, Transport for London, European Commission funding bodies, architectural and urban planning practices, local authorities, NGOs, business improvement districts and technology companies.

Ben Warren

COO & Air Quality Expert

Ben Warren

Ben is an experienced Air Quality Consultant with nearly 14 years of experience in professional air quality consultancy, including technical and policy support for national, regional and local government. He is a Director at Tranquil City. He has led the air quality approach and modelling for Tranquil City since 2016, disseminating practical and helpful information for people to better understand the quality of the air they’re breathing and how to reduce exposure to pollution. He has also worked on the air quality assessments for numerous planning applications in London and reviewed other such assessments on behalf of the Greater London Authority, giving him an excellent understanding of air quality issues and policies in London.

Dr Ben Piper

API & Modelling Lead

Dr Ben Piper

Ben has a background as a research scientist at the National Physical Laboratory working on the development of noise sensing hardware as well as experiments in new optical sensing methods for sound. He has developed the machine learning predictive model and technology behind the current implementations as well as the API infrastructure and integrations.

Matt Megarry

Machine Learning & Product Engineer

Matt Megarry

Matt is a Software Engineer with experience in Web Development and Machine Learning. He is responsible for architecting and building out our data systems, as well as developing new machine learning models and pipelines.

Dr Eleanor Ratcliffe

Environmental Psychologist

Dr Eleanor Ratcliffe

Ellie is joining Tranquil City as a British Academy Innovation Fellow for 2024-2025, developing and co-designing our impact assessment methods with local communities and urban design practitioners. Ellie is an experienced researcher and academic in Environmental Psychology, with expertise in the design and experience of environments that support psychological wellbeing, especially places in nature. She examines how these places can improve mood and reduce stress, improve cognitive performance, and enhance community connectedness. She is also a lecturer at the University of Surrey. She completed her PhD in Environmental Psychology at the University of Surrey in 2015 and continued to complete two postdoctoral research positions, the first in the Department of Psychology, University of Tampere (Finland), funded by the Leverhulme Trust, and second at the Dyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College London (UK).

Advisors and Experts

Umesh Pandya

Strategic Advisor

Umesh Pandya

Umesh is a digital designer who is passionate about making inclusive, humanity centred, digital products. He co-founded Wayfindr, a multi-award-winning, social tech, not-for-profit that empowers vision-impaired people to navigate the world independently. He continues to provide invaluable mentorship and strategic advice to Tranquil City following their participation in the Bethnal Green Venture Accelerator in 2019.

Chloe McFarlane

Engagement Advisor

Chloe McFarlane

Chloe is an Engagement Consultant, with a background in urban regeneration, community engagement and interdisciplinary research. Chloe has been working with Tranquil City since 2020 and has a Masters from the UCL Bartlett School of Planning. Chloe continuously strives for finding innovative and creative methods to meaningfully engage communities with environmental data and the concept of urban tranquillity.

Alberto Calzada

Data Scientist

Alberto Calzada

Freelance Data Scientist, Data Engineer and Machine Learning researcher with experience in academia and industry. He has contributed significantly to Tranquil City since he was part of the initial OrganiCity Phase 1 project in 2016, continuing to develop our data work including the production of the Tranquil City and Healthy Streets Indices.

Diana Sanchez

Innovation Strategist

Diana Sanchez

Diana provides experience on sustainable urban economics, and the quantification and monetisation of externalities. She is an economist, with a Master studies in Philosophy and MBA with a focus on sustainability and has 10 years of experience developing innovative approaches for integrating, managing and measuring social and environmental impacts.

Dr. Julie Godefroy

Sustainability Expert

Dr. Julie Godefroy

Sustainability Consultant with experience in environmental, health and wellbeing strategies. Julie has been the sustainability advisor on the National Trusts Historic Environment Group for several years and is particularly interested in engaging urban audiences with our environment and architectural heritage, including public spaces.

Floriane Ortega

Urban Planner

Floriane Ortega

Urban planner with experience in both developed and developing countries. She has experience in climate change adaptation and mitigation in Colombia, worked in Sub-Saharan Africa in urban water supply and sanitation infrastructure and was involved in the metro project in Hanoi.

Supporters & Collaborators