James Laing

Core expertise

Active travel planning, street and multi-modal corridor design, walking and cycling, and Healthy Streets applications.

Background

James Laing is a transport practitioner with more than 23 years of experience in active travel, street design, and transport planning across Australia, and the United Kingdom.

Key achievements

Development of the Healthy Streets Design Check Australia tool, released in 2021.

Project leadership across a wide range of major walking and cycling corridor programs across Victoria.

Keynote speaker and presenter.

More about James

Early background

James Laing built his professional foundations in the United Kingdom, working in transport planning and street design roles focused on walking, cycling, and public transport integration. James Laing later relocated to Melbourne, Australia, bringing international practice experience to Victorian and national projects.

He held senior transport design and planning roles within Transport for London’s Surface Transport division prior to 2018. In this capacity, he led engineering teams responsible for the delivery of walking, cycling, and street improvement projects across London. His work applied the Healthy Streets approach to planning and design assessment, embedding its indicators into corridor and place-based schemes. This included early implementation of Healthy Streets assessment methods within complex urban environments, supporting the delivery of street and corridor projects aligned with the framework’s performance measures.

From 2018 to 2024, he served as Principal Transportation Designer and Planning Team Leader at Stantec, and as National Practice Lead for Active Travel and Cycle Planning. He led multidisciplinary active travel teams across Victoria and regional Australia, directing feasibility studies, corridor strategies, and detailed design for walking and cycling infrastructure. He managed stakeholder engagement and technical delivery for local and state government clients, ensuring projects met both policy and constructability requirements. His work resulted in the delivery of constructed walking and cycling corridors across Melbourne and regional Victoria. He also led the specialist team that developed the Healthy Streets Design Check Australia tool, launched in July 2021, and contributed to projects recognised by the Planning Institute of Australia.

Eukai Transport Advisory Role: Director

James is a leader at Eukai, an Australian leading transport advisory firm. He specialises in active transport, street design, and corridor planning, with a strong focus on multimodal network integration and evidence-based transport investment.

At Eukai, he acts as a trusted adviser to government and private clients across metropolitan and regional Australia. His work spans active travel planning, walking and cycling infrastructure, protected bike lanes, pedestrian priority design, intersection treatments, speed management, and complete streets. He leads strategic corridor planning, feasibility studies, option assessment, and detailed design review, ensuring projects align with network function, land use context, safety performance, and policy objectives.

James is known for resolving complex multimodal corridor challenges. He balances vehicle movement, public transport operations, freight access, and high-quality walking and cycling outcomes within constrained urban environments. His approach combines transport engineering discipline with context-sensitive urban design, applying Healthy Streets principles and Safe System thinking to deliver practical, buildable solutions.

He works closely with senior decision makers, project control groups, and technical teams to define problems clearly, test trade-offs transparently, and establish defensible recommendations. His advisory work supports clear, implementable decisions that improve network performance, increase walking and cycling participation, and deliver durable street and corridor outcomes.

Areas of expertise

James Laing’s areas of expertise include active travel planning, walking and cycling network development, street and corridor design, Healthy Streets assessment, road safety, and multi-modal transport integration. James Laing applies innovative thinking, context senstive design and Safe Systems principles across all project work.

Notable work and contributions

James Laing led sustainable corridor feasibility studies for multiple local government authorities in Victoria. James Laing was Project Lead for active travel corridors in the City of Port Phillip, with the first projects constructed in 2022. James Laing led streetscape and active travel corridor programs for the City of Melbourne, including Racecourse Road, Hawke Street, and Dynon Road. James Laing was Design Lead for the Inner Metro and Regional Cycling Program for the Victorian Department of Transport, delivering pop-up and permanent cycling infrastructure in Melbourne, Wodonga, and Wangaratta. James Laing served as Project Manager and Design Lead for the Victorian Government’s 20 Minute Neighbourhoods program, recognised with the Healthy Active by Design Award at the 2020 Planning Excellence Awards.

Industry engagement

James Laing regularly presents at professional conferences, including events hosted by the Transport Professionals Association, the Planning Institute of Australia, and national walking and cycling conferences.

Member, Transport Professionals Association