Gordon Stephenson was born in 1908 in Walton, Liverpool, one of three sons to Francis Edwin Stephenson and Eva Eliza Owen. The education of Gordon Stephenson began at the Liverpool Institute and subsequently he won the Elmes scholarship to the school of architecture at Liverpool University in 1925, graduating with a first in 1930. Upon graduation Stephenson's failure to win the Rome scholarship led Professor Charles Reilly to invent the Chadwick Trust Award to enable Stephenson two years at the British Institute in Paris and Institut d'Urbanisme as an assistant to the architect Le Corbusier. He was heavily influenced by Le Corbusier and upon his return to Liverpool University as a lecturer he won the Williams scholarship for designs inspired by his time in Paris.

In 1936 Gordon Stephenson began reading for a master's degree in city planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During this time he met Flora Bartlett Crockett who was a fellow student at the institute and they married in 1938. During this year Flora and Gordon Stephenson returned to England and Gordon was appointed as studio master at the Architectural Association until 1940 when he joined the Modern Architectural Research Group.

In 1942, Gordon Stephenson joined William Holford's research division heading the planning technique section of the Ministry of Works and Buildings (later the Ministry of Town and Country Planning). Stephenson rose to chief planning officer remaining with the ministry until 1947. In addition Stephenson became second in command to Sir Patrick Abercrombie's Greater London planning team in 1943-44 which included the redevelopment of West Ham. Independently Stephenson, Young and Partners (1949-53) undertook various planning projects most notably Stevenage New Town for which he was appointed CBE in 1967.

From 1948-53 Gordon Stephenson held the position of Lever professor of civic design at Liverpool University and during this time developed a new postgraduate programme for a masters of civic design degree and was an editor of The Town Planning Review (1949-54). In addition he designed the Liverpool University building for the civic design department.

Stephenson unexpectedly resigned from the Lever chair in 1953. He had intended to move to take up a position as visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, however he was refused a visa by the McCarthy House Un-American Activities Committee due to a visit to the USSR and his position as Liverpool secretary for the committee for the relief of German Fascism as a young man. Instead Stephenson and his family lived in Perth, Australia between 1953 and 1955. During this time, in 1953, he developed a regional plan for Perth.

Between 1955 and 1960 Stephenson lived in Canada holding the position of professor of town and regional planning at the University of Toronto whilst being involved in the redevelopment of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Ottawa, London and Kingston Ontario.

In 1960 Stephenson finally settled in Australia and was appointed professor of architecture at the University of Western Australia. He helped to redevelop the university campus as well as being involved in various other university planning projects across Australia and Canada. In addition to this he sat on the Australian national capital planning committee from 1967-73.

Gordon Stephenson retired in 1972 but continued to advise on planning and development projects across Australia and New Zealand. Flora Stephenson died in Perth, Australia in 1979. Gordon Stephenson died in 1997 and was survived by three daughters Gail, Sarah and Ann.