Peter Hall is Professor of Planning and Regeneration at the Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning, University College London. 

He received his Master's (1957) and Ph.D. (1959) degrees in Geography from the University of Cambridge and has taught at the London School of Economics; at the University of Reading (1968-88), where he was Dean of the Faculty of Urban and Regional Studies; and at the University of California at Berkeley (1980-92), where he is Professor Emeritus of City and Regional Planning.

From 1991-94 he was Special Adviser on Strategic Planning to the UK Secretary of State for the Environment, with special reference to issues of London and South East regional planning including Thames Gateway and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.  In 1998-99 he was a member of the Deputy Prime Minister's Urban Task Force.  In 2006 he was a member of the Expert Advisory Committee to the Barker Review of the planning system.  In 2008 he was a member of the Eco-Towns Challenge Panel.  In 2009 he has assumed overall direction of SINTROPHER, a €22 million EU programme promoting transfer of new transport technologies, particularly TramTrains, to assist the development of peripheral European regions.

He is author or editor of nearly 40 books on urban and regional planning and related topics, including The World Cities (1966, 1977, 1983); Urban and Regional Planning (1975, 1982, 2002); Great Planning Disasters (1980, 1982); Cities of Tomorrow (1988); Technopoles of the World (with M. Castells, 1994); Cities in Civilization (1998); Urban Future 21 (with U. Pfeiffer, 2000); and The Polycentric Metropolis (with K. Pain, 2006).