The Little Earth Book (Fragile Earth)
James Bruges was born in 1933 and brought up in Kashmir. His father was a manager in the Imperial Bank of India and a Major in the army in Burma. He returned to England aged twelve and, after formal schooling, went on to study architecture at the Architectural Association (AA) in London. He has since been a practising architect in London, the Sudan (University of Khartoum 1962-65), and Bristol. He founded the Bruges Tozer Partnership in Bristol, Bruges Tozer Limited in London, and formed the Concept Planning Group in Bristol with two other firms to undertake urban planning projects. In 1995 James left architectural practice to concentrate on environmental issues which had become, through his architectural work, a major concern for him. He set up, jointly, Leigh Court Farm in Bristol (an edge-of-town organic enterprise), and became an adviser to an Environmental Trust. He also made annual visits to India to remain in close contact with Gandhian rural projects - which he still continues today. In 1999 James publishedSustainability and the Bristol Urban Village Initiative. He currently lives in Bristol and is married with four (grown-up) children.