Michael Austin Slingsby MBE joined the Department of Planning and Urban Design at the Architectural Association (AA) in 1969, during Leslie Ginsburg's tenure as Head of the Department. Prior to that, he worked as a Land and Property Appraiser in London between 1961-69, and in 1969, he qualified as a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. At the AA, Slingsby studied under Nick Jeffrey, assisting him on a project with a community in Peabody Tenements, Southwark, while forming strong ties with Otto Koenigsberger. According to the Student Register, Slingsby joined Pat Wakely course in the Department of Development and Tropical Studies between 1970 and 1971. He graduated in 1971, obtaining a postgraduate Diploma in Urban Planning and was awarded a certificate in Urban Development Planning . Upon graduation, Otto Koenigsberger arranged for Slingsby to work as a Planner and Land Valuer for his friend Lim Chong Keat in Architects Team 3 in Singapore and Penang, Malaysia. In 1972, Koenigsberger invited Slingsby to teach at the newly established Development Planning Unit (DPU) at University College London (UCL). Around 1975, Slingsby was sent to Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he developed a two-year MSc course in Town and Country Planning at the University of Sri Lanka, funded by the British Council. Throughout his career, he worked at various academic and research institutions in India, Sri Lanka, and the UK while engaging in projects for several international agencies, such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), and the World Bank. He also collaborated with governmental agencies, including the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the UK Overseas Development Administration (replaced by the Department for International Development – DFID). Throughout his career, Slingsby gained an immense expertise in multiple countries and contexts across South and Southeast Asia, including India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan, Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore. In 1986, he was appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) ‘for services to housing development in India’.
Sources
- Architectural Association Student Register 1945-1972, AA Archives
- Michael Austin Slingsby MBE. Email correspondence on Slingsby’s experience at the AA to Edward Bottoms (AA Archives). 2024.
- Michael Austin Slingsby MBE. Curriculum Vitae. Unpublished manuscript, received via email from Michael Austin Slingsby, 2024.
- The London Gazette. "Supplement to The London Gazette, 14th June 1986." No. 50551 (June 14, 1986): B17.
- Michael Austin Slingsby MBE
