Research Profile
Mr Mike Biddulph
Career Profile
Planning Assistant, Oxford City Council, (1989 - 1991).
Lecturer in Urban Design and Development, Department of Civic Design, University of Liverpool, (1992 - 1999).
Lecturer in Urban Design, City and Regional Planning, Cardiff University, (1999 - 2004).
Senior Lecturer in Urban Design, City and Regional Planning, Cardiff University, (2004 - today).
Memberships / External Activities
Executive Editor, Urban Design International 2006-2007, now member of the Editoral Board.
Editorial Board, Built Environment Journal 2004 – 2006.
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
I was a Design Review Panel Member for the Design Commission for Wales (DCFW) between 2004 and 2007. I have run DCFW training events for planning officers and members relating to the design of residential development in Wales. I am also an Advocate in Practice for the DCFW looking at ways in which design can be embraced more fully through development in Wales.
I am an Urban Design Group "Registered Practitioner".
Welsh Housing Design Awards Steering Group.
Teaching Profile
Mike has been teaching urban design at every level of higher education for over twenty years.
He has taught a BSc 2 module of Site Planning and Development which combines his interest in site planning and residential layout. A successful module, it contains a significant input from a surveyor so that students can combine an understanding of physical planning with a concern for commercial property development. Mike also teaches a BSc 3 module on Design Development and Control which examines how the British planning system should deal with design issues, whilst also examining the current state of retail, residential and sustainable construction thinking and practice in the UK.
At the post graduate level Mike established the very successful MA Urban Design which is run jointly with the Welsh School of Architecture. When established it was the first degree offered by two Schools in the University. The programme currently has more applications than any other programme offered by the School. On this programme his teaching commitments have varied. He has contributed to a theory module Urban Design Thinkers. He ran a community involvement element in Developer and Community Perspectives which required students to engage in a community involvement task related to their design work with a real community. He ran a design studio for a number of years which looked at masterplanning a major urban extension. This involved a lot of input from willing local practitioners. He contributed to the induction sessions (now known as Urban Design Foundation) introducing a series of basic exercises allowing students to explore basic urban design principles through practical work.
He has supervised numerous dissertations and projects and is currently supervising 3 PhDs, including two jointly with other Universities.
He is very committed to field visits and has led many UK and overseas visits, typically to the Netherlands or Germany. He has been an external examiner for the MA Urban Design at the University of Westminster. He is currently the external examiner for the MA Urban Design and a Graduate Diploma in Architecture, both at Newcastle University. Currently he is helping to develop a design route through the MSc International Planning and Development, and is helping to design a studio module Designing Cities which will look at site for development in developing countries.
