Biography
I joined Keele University in September 2007 as Lecturer in Politics and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2013. Prior to coming to Keele, I held research associate positions in both the departments of Politics and Town and Regional Planning at the University of Sheffield. In addition, I managed Sustainable Brownfield Regeneration: Integrated Management (SUBR:IM), a £2 million research consortium funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
I have also been a member of the Sustainable Development Commission’s Sustainable Development Panel. In addition, I have given invited lectures and seminars to public bodies, such as HM Treasury and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE).
Since joining Keele, I have been the lead or co-investigator on four research council-funded projects. I am also a regular commentator on politics in local, regional and national media.
I am a co-editor of the Routledge book series 'Transforming Environmental Politics and Policy' with Professor Tim Doyle (University of Adelaide).
Research and scholarship
My research interests are principally focused on urban and environmental governance, local governance, British Politics and public policy theory. I have led and been co-investigator on various funded projects:
Centre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity
An ESRC-funded research centre focused on promoting sustainable prosperity within the ecological and resource constraints of a finite planet. The centre focuses not just on the economic aspects of this challenge, but also its social, political and philosophical dimensions. The centre pays particular attention to the pragmatic steps that need to be taken by enterprise, government and civil society in order to achieve a sustainable prosperity. PI: Tim Jackson (Surrey University), with various investigators from Surrey University, Anglia Ruskin University, Goldsmiths College London, University of Leeds, Middlesex University, York University (Canada), and University of Canterbury (Christchurch, NZ) (2016-2020). I am the Keele lead for the project, working with Professor Brian Doherty on prefigurative strategies by local environmental groups.
Reducing Energy Consumption through Community Knowledge Networks
Funded through the ESRC and EPSRC Energy and Communities collaborative venture, this project compared and contrasted the energy reduction challenges in these two types of community and to see which strategies worked best in each of them.
Regenerating Post-Industrial Medium-Sized Cities
The purpose of this ESRC seminar series was to examine the problems facing medium-sized cities: exploring the barriers inhibiting successful regeneration and the policy levers available for overcoming these. Co-investigators: Professor Chris Phillipson, Professor Graham Allan and Dr Mark Featherstone (all Keele University).
Multi-level Governance, Europeanization and Urban Politics
This project examines three policy sectors within the geographical area of Sheffield to detail the changing nature of multi-level governance at the urban level and to explore the extent to which local actors retain the capacity to coordination and negotiate discourses, policies and processes emanating from ‘higher’ levels of governance. Co-investigators: Dr Ian Bache (University of Sheffield) and Professor John Henneberry (University of Sheffield).
Selected Publications
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What hampers 'political' action in environmental alternative action organizations? Exploring the scope for strategic agency under post-political conditions. SOCIAL MOVEMENT STUDIES. link> doi> full text>2019.
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Change in the Political Economy of Land Value Capture in England. Town Planning Review, 339-358, vol. 90(4). doi> link> full text>2019.
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Public entrepreneurship and the politics of regeneration in multi-level governance. ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING C-GOVERNMENT AND POLICY, 1324-1343, vol. 34(7). link> doi> full text>2016.
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Factors influencing perceptions of domestic energy information: content, source and process. Energy Policy. doi>
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Big Society, little justice? Community energy and the politics of localism?. Local Environment: the international journal of justice and sustainability. doi>2013.
Full Publications Listshow
Books
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Sustainable brownfield regeneration: liveable places from problem spaces. Oxford: Blackwells.2007.
Journal Articles
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What hampers 'political' action in environmental alternative action organizations? Exploring the scope for strategic agency under post-political conditions. SOCIAL MOVEMENT STUDIES. link> doi> full text>2019.
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Change in the Political Economy of Land Value Capture in England. Town Planning Review, 339-358, vol. 90(4). doi> link> full text>2019.
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Public entrepreneurship and the politics of regeneration in multi-level governance. ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING C-GOVERNMENT AND POLICY, 1324-1343, vol. 34(7). link> doi> full text>2016.
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Factors influencing perceptions of domestic energy information: content, source and process. Energy Policy. doi>
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Big Society, little justice? Community energy and the politics of localism?. Local Environment: the international journal of justice and sustainability. doi>2013.
- 2012.
- 2011.
- 2009.
- 2009.
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Managing multidisciplinarity: lessons from SUBR:IM. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, vol. 34(4). doi>2009.
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New labour and joined up urban governance. Public Policy and Administration, 47-66, vol. 24(1). doi>2009.
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Deliberating the environmental risk posed by contaminated land: the importance of local context. Land contamination and reclamation, 113-124, vol. 16(2). doi>2008.
- 2008.
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Hyperactive governance in the Thames Gateway. Journal of urban regeneration and renewal, 124-145, vol. 2(2).2008.
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New Labour and Associative Democracy: Old Debates in New Times?. British Politics, 347–371, vol. 2(3). doi>2007.
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Risk perception and trust in the context of urban brownfields. Environmental Hazards, 150-156, vol. 7(2). doi>2007.
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Dealing with Contaminated Land in the UK through 'Development Managerialism'. Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, 331-356, vol. 8(4). doi>2006.
Chapters
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Revitalizing contaminated land in Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States: a comparative perspective. (1st ed.). Farnham: Ashgate. link>2012.
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Challenges to the State. In Understanding the Environment and Social Policy. Fitzpatrick T (Ed.). Policy Pr.2011.
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Is Brown the New Green?. In Sustainable Brownfield Regeneration. Dixon T, Catney PJJ, Raco M, Lerner DN (Eds.). Wiley-Blackwell.2007.
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Democracy, Trust and Risk Related to Contaminated Sites in the UK’. In Sustainable Brownfield Regeneration: Liveable Places from Problem Spaces. Dixon T, Raco M, Catney P, Lerner DN (Eds.).2007.
Other
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Sustainable Urban Land Management:An International Policy and Planning Perspective.2008.
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Communicating Risk on Contaminated Sites: How Best to Engage with Local Residents. link>2007.
