By coming together to promote knowledge exchange and engage in key areas of debate, we are addressing national and international challenges facing contemporary cities across the world.
Our areas of focus include informal urbanism, urban regeneration, urban theory, transit urbanism, sustainable urbanism, and comparative urbanism. Our research is informed by researchers working on projects across multiple cities in the global South and global North.
Activities include invited guest lecture series, research seminars, funding application workshops, and impact events, among others.
Projects
Lead members
Dr Nastaran Peimani
Reader in Urban Design
Co-Director of MA Urban Design
Leader of the Urbanism Research Group
Academic staff
Dr Hesam Kamalipour
Reader in Urban Design
Founding Director of Informal Urban Design Research Lab
Co-Founding Director of Public Space Observatory Research Centre
Dr Nastaran Peimani
Reader in Urban Design
Co-Director of MA Urban Design
Leader of the Urbanism Research Group
Dr Federico Wulff
Reader (Associate Professor) in Architectural Design. MA AD Course Director. MArch BE Year 1 Leader
Postgraduate students
Publications
- Kamalipour, H. , Aelbrecht, P. and Peimani, N. eds. 2023. The Routledge handbook of urban design research methods. New York: Routledge. (10.4324/9781003168621)
- Kaminer, T. , Sohn, H. and Robles-Duran, M. eds. 2011. Urban asymmetries: Studies and projects on neoliberal urbanization. DSD Series Rotterdam: 010 Uitgeverij.
- Kaminer, T. , Ma, L. and Runting, H. eds. 2023. Urbanizing suburbia: Hyper-gentrification, the financialization of housing and the remaking of the outer European city. Jovis.
- Aelbrecht, W. 2023. Detroit in memoriam: urban imaginaries and the spectre of demolished by neglect in performative photo-installations. Cultural Geographies 30 (2), pp.239-258. (10.1177/14744740221102905)
- Aelbrecht, W. 2021. Rebuilding Britain's blitzed cities: hopeful dreams, stark realities. Planning Perspectives 36 (2), pp.424-426. (10.1080/02665433.2021.1888570)
- Alharbi, F. , Raman, S. and Lannon, S. 2024. Integrating health and well-being into urban design: Microclimate, walkability, and walking behaviour in Buraydah City, Saudi Arabia. Environmental Science & Sustainable Development 9 (4), pp.47-62. (10.21625/essd.v9i4.1132)
- Bernstock, P. et al., 2022. State of the legacy: a decade of Olympic 'regeneration'.
- Davis, J. 2022. Epidemics, planning and the city: a special issue of planning perspectives. Planning Perspectives 37 (1), pp.1-8. (10.1080/02665433.2022.2019982)
- Davis, J. 2022. The caring city: ethics of urban design. Bristol: Bristol University Press.
- Davis, J. and Bernstock, P. 2023. From inclusive legacy promises to exclusive realities: Planning, design and displacement in post-Olympic East London. In: Kaminer, T. , Ma, L. and Runting, H. eds. Urbanizing Suburbia: Hyper-Gentrification, the Financialization of Housing and the Remaking of the Outer European City. Berlin: Jovis Verlag GmbH. , pp.212-235. (10.1515/9783868598735-015)
- Inam, A. 2022. City as flux: Interrogating the changing nature of urban change. Urban Planning 7 (1)(10.17645/up.v7i1.5189)
- Inam, A. 2022. Co-designing publics: [re]producing the public realm via informal urbanisms in cities of the global south. Local Environment (10.1080/13549839.2022.2045481)
- Inam, A. 2022. Fits-and-starts: the changing nature of the material city. Urban Planning 7 (1), pp.56-71. (10.17645/up.v7i1.4501)
- Kamalipour, H. and Peimani, N. 2021. Informal urbanism in the state of uncertainty: forms of informality and urban health emergencies. Urban Design International 26 (2), pp.122-134. (10.1057/s41289-020-00145-3)
- Kaminer, T. 2022. Postscript: towards a critical historiography of gentrification. City: analysis of urban trends, culture, theory, policy, action 26 (2-3), pp.542-552. (10.1080/13604813.2022.2058821)
- Lacy, K. and Raman, S. 2021. Network approach to understand the impact of human settlement on ecosystems in cities. In: Rahbarianyazd, R. ed. Contemporary Approaches in Urbanism and Heritage Studies. Cinius Yayınları Publication. , pp.3-10.
- Peimani, N. 2023. Exploring transit morphologies and forms of urbanity in urban design research. In: Kamalipour, H. , Lopes Simoes Aelbrecht, P. and Peimani, N. eds. The Routledge Handbook of Urban Design Research Methods. New York, NY: Routledge. , pp.160-167.
- Peimani, N. 2023. Healthy cities? Design for well-being by Tim Townshend, London, Lund Humphries [Book Review]. Journal of Urban Design 28 (6), pp.699-701. (10.1080/13574809.2023.2262332)
- Peimani, N. and Kamalipour, H. 2022. Assembling transit urban design in the global South: urban morphology in relation to forms of urbanity and informality in the public space surrounding transit stations. Urban Science 6 (1) 18. (10.3390/urbansci6010018)
- Peimani, N. and Kamalipour, H. 2024. Informal public space: exploring street vending in Tehran. Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability (10.1080/17549175.2024.2348792)
- Peimani, N. and Kamalipour, H. 2022. Informal street vending: a systematic review. Land 11 (6) 829. (10.3390/land11060829)
- Peimani, N. and Kamalipour, H. 2025. Mapping the spatiality of informal street vending. Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability 18 (3), pp.329-348. (10.1080/17549175.2022.2150267)
- Peimani, N. and Kamalipour, H. 2022. The future of design studio education: student experience and perception of blended learning and teaching during the global pandemic. Education Sciences 12 (2) 140. (10.3390/educsci12020140)
- Pezzica, C. 2023. Disasterville. Formal methods in emergency urbanism. FrancoAngeli.
- Pezzica, C. et al. 2022. The making of cities after disasters: Strategic planning and the Central Italy temporary housing process. Cities 131 104053. (10.1016/j.cities.2022.104053)
- Porta, S. et al., 2022. Urban morphometrics + earth observation: an integrated approach to rich/extra-large-scale taxonomies of urban form. Projections, the Journal of the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning 16
- Turnbull, N. 2023. Austerity's afterlives? The case of community asset transfer in the UK. The Geographical Journal (10.1111/geoj.12513)
- Turnbull, N. 2022. Community action in austerity: The case of Community Asset Transfer. PhD Thesis , Cardiff University.
- Usubillaga Narvaez, J. 2022. Change by activism: insurgency, autonomy and political activism in Potosí-Jerusalén in Bogotá, Colombia. Urban Planning 7 (1), pp.72-81. (10.17645/up.v7i1.4431)
- Wulff, F. and Brito, O. 2022. The multi-scalar production of intercultural urban landscapes. Inter-cultural nodes as urban and social re-activators: the case of Ballarò, Palermo. In: McVicar, M. , Kite, S. and Drożyński, C. eds. Generosity and Architecture. London: Routledge. , pp.226-237. (10.4324/9781003211815-25)
- Wulff Barreiro, F. and Brito Gonzalez, O. 2020. The production of intercultural urban landscapes, a multi‑scalar approach: the case of Ballarò, Palermo. URBAN DESIGN International 25 (3), pp.250-265. (10.1057/s41289-020-00126-6)
Schools
Next steps
Research that matters
Our research makes a difference to people’s lives as we work across disciplines to tackle major challenges facing society, the economy and our environment.
Postgraduate research
Our research degrees give the opportunity to investigate a specific topic in depth among field-leading researchers.
Our research impact
Our research case studies highlight some of the areas where we deliver positive research impact.