New Insight paper: Marcelina Zielinska on a new urban design approach to customer analysis

Chapman Taylor Director Marcelina Zielinska, from our London studio’s Feasibility team, has written an Insight paper on the need for more nuanced and dynamic customer analysis when creating mixed-use urban developments.

In the paper, Marcelina argues that good urban design, particularly in an era of rapid and profound commercial and societal changes, must be underpinned by a thorough understanding of the people who will use, live, work, shop and enjoy the spaces we create, particularly if we are to reverse the phenomenon of identikit high streets and commercial centres that have plagued the UK and much of the western world in recent decades.

The commonly understood segmentation of the post-war population into baby boomers, Generation X, Millennials and Generation Z has its uses and can help make sense of age-related societal shifts.

However, Marcelina makes the case for much better understanding of the complex drivers behind consumer/user behaviour if we are to create truly people-centred and sustainable urban centres.

For more on the topic, you can read Marcelina’s Insight paper here.

Marcelina Zielinska (MSC Arch and Urb Des, RIBA, FRSA)

Director, UK

Marcelina has extensive experience of all design stages on a diverse range of projects of various scales, from individual buildings to large urban masterplans.

She has a particular passion for high street regeneration, with a talent for anticipating future trends in retail and leisure and the impact they will have on town centres. Her current projects include heritage-sensitive masterplans for historic city centres.

As an architect and urban designer, Marcelina understands the importance of placemaking and of combining uses to create socially, commercially and environmentally sustainable communities, both in the UK and internationally.

Marcelina has been with Chapman Taylor since March 2007, when she joined the company to help deliver St. David’s 2 in Cardiff. Marcelina was promoted to the UK Board in 2023.

Areas of expertise:

Masterplanning / Mixed-use / Retail / Leisure / Asset Enhancement / Placemaking

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