Planning
1st in UK
for Planning
NSS 20231st in UK
for Town and Country Planning and Landscape Design (Student Satisfaction)
Complete University Guide 202510th in UK
for Construction, Surveying and Planning
Guardian University Guide 2024The Planning discipline promotes interdisciplinary working and research led teaching with the goal of facilitating collaborative learning among faculty, students, and practitioners.
The ethos of the Planning School is to focus on the development of knowledge, skills and competences within our students, which flow directly from a professional remit that is spatial, sustainable, integrative and inclusive. Through our programmes, we encourage students to reflect on the outcomes and drivers of the planning and development process whilst simultaneously developing practical skills and exposing them to real world experience. We also seek to develop their analytical skills by encouraging them to scrutinise developments in policy and practice through lenses that are theoretical, historical and international and to view curriculum topics within a wider theoretical, temporal and spatial context. As a research driven School, we also strive to ensure that our and others’ Planning research informs student activities and that they are aware of the dynamic nature of changes in society, the economy and the environment.
PLANNING RESEARCH
The discipline has an impressive track record in winning major UK and international funding from bodies including INNOVATE UK, RCUK, EU, GRCF in areas from core ‘science’ research to public engagements, training, capacity building and digital modelling.
Our vision is to enhance research productivity, increase funded research, grow the number of research students and PDRAs, facilitate integrated scholarly activity and promote the discipline as a leading hub for global research. In this context, our research priorities are guided by global challenges and a need to achieve sustainable development in our built and natural environment.
KEY RESEARCH PROJECTS
What Would an Age-Friendly City Look Like?
Aging in the Global South
This project explores the role of city planning and design on providing age-friendly environments that are free from physical and social barriers and supported by policies, systems, services, products and technologies to promote health and build and maintain physical and mental capacity across the life course.
Digital Modelling for Planning Practice and Research
VU.CITY
VU.CITY is the most accessible, accurate and interactive 3-d platform in the world. It enables everyone in the planning and development process to make faster and better informed decisions, helping create a better future for all.
All Eyes on Us: Big Data for Surveillance in Society
Emerging technologies
The built environment influences mobility and transportation, but objective study of environmental influences on human behaviours is challenging. Portable sensors like Go-Pro cameras provide a unique method to capture mobility. Using qualitative methodology, we use GoPros as a tool to capture environmental factors that affect physical activity in public spaces.
FIND OUT MORE
Research Expertise of Planning Staff:
- Environmentally sustainable and resilient development that tackles the challenges presented for cities, climate, environment, communities and blue growth.
- The planning of future sustainable cities which are agile and future ready, for example for near zero energy autonomous vehicles.
- Healthy cities, and age-friendly places.
- Affordable, reliable and environmentally sustainable renewable energy.
- Technological innovation for the digital transformation of Planning
- Economic development
- Illegal drugs
- Migration
- Rural design
- Public Health
- City branding
- Neoliberal Urbanism
STUDY
OUR STAFF
| STAFF NAME | KEY RESEARCH INTERESTS | |
|---|---|---|
| Boland, Dr Philip | Local and regional economic development, identity and place, culture-led regeneration, geography of the illegal drugs industry | p.boland@qub.ac.uk |
| Crawford, Dr Jenny | Development of inclusive, healthy and ecologically sustainable settlement | e.crawford@qub.ac.uk |
| Ellis, Prof Geraint | Health and the built environment; Social dimensions of the low carbon energy transition; Public participation, activism and equality in planning governance. | g.ellis@qub.ac.uk |
| Ferguson, Dr Laura | Social sciences academic; specialising in natural and cultural heritage, participatory mapping, and stakeholder engagement for sustainable development projects. | l.ferguson@qub.ac.uk |
| Ferguson, Dr Sara | Rural populations, rural mobilities, health and the built environment; GIS | sara.ferguson@qub.ac.uk |
| Flannery, Dr Wesley | Marine Spatial Planning; Coastal and marine governance; coastal and marine cultural heritage; natural resource management; climate change adaptation; flood risk management. | w.flannery@qub.ac.uk |
| Fox-Rogers, Dr Linda | Power and politics in planning practice; Social dimensions of flood risk management; Value capture in urban planning; The neoliberalisation of the state and planning. | L.Fox-Rogers@qub.ac.uk |
| Galway, Dr Neil | Conservation of the Built Environment, Design in the Built Environment, International Planning Studies | n.galway@qub.ac.uk |
| McKay, Dr Stephen | Planning Law and practice, Planning enforcement, Forward planning, Development management, Planning ethics, Urban resilience, Digital modelling for planning and development | s.mckay@qub.ac.uk |
| Michael, Dr Laura | Planning and cultural heritage, collaborative practice, urban design, sustainable transport | l.michael@qub.ac.uk |
| Murtagh, Prof Brendan | Social economics and urban development, The economics of peace-building, Contested cities, social enterprises and urban regeneration, Cross-border economic cooperation and co-operative development | b.murtagh@qub.ac.uk |
| Sengupta, Dr Urmi | Urban development, poverty and inequality, contestations over access to land and housing in cities of global south | u.sengupta@qub.ac.uk |
| Waldron, Dr Richard |
Housing Systems, Policy and Markets Built Heritage and Urban Planning |
r.waldron@qub.ac.uk |