Research 2025 Welcome to MORE 2025
The School of Architecture + Cities was created in 2018, as part of a University-wide restructuring exercise. It is part of the College of Design, Creative and Digital Industries (DCDI) which facilitates collaboration between the School of A+C, Westminster School of Arts, the School of Media and Communication and the School of Computer Science and Engineering. A+C hosts a wide range of disciplines engaged in the design of urban environments including architecture, interior architecture, transport studies, urban design and planning. This diversity provides an opportunity for the cross-fertilisation of ideas between built environment disciplines in ways not possible at many institutions in the UK.
The School has a strong international reputation for research, knowledge exchange and public engagement. Research and knowledge exchange is coordinated by a Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee chaired by Professor Lindsay Bremner, with Luz Navarro as the Knowledge Exchange lead. Since 2019, the school has also participated in the university-wide Sustainable Cities and Urban Environments research community, now led by Tom Cohen.
The School of Architecture and Cities hosts several research centres and groups. These entities are organised around the school’s recognised strengths, values and areas of impact. Our research and knowledge exchange centres are the Active Travel Academy (ATA), the Centre for Air Traffic Management Research (ATM), and the Centre for the Production of the Built Environment, (ProBE), the latter shared with Westminster Business School. These centres are externally funded and generate a good share of the University’s research and knowledge exchange income. Our research and knowledge exchange groups are Architectural Humanities, Emerging Territories, Design Practices, Transport & Mobilities, and Place & Experience which next year will be replaced by a new research group focusing on Heritage and Place. Research active staff and doctoral researchers elect to join at least one of these groups, whose role is to develop their capacities and activities, to provide research mentoring and to encourage collaborative research within the group and across groups.
One of the most important cycles in the academic research calendar in the UK is the Research Excellence Framework (REF) evaluations that take place every six to seven years. The next REF will take place at the end of 2028, with Dr Davide Deriu co-ordinating the school’s submission. In 2021, the school submitted 77 members of staff, 159 research outputs and 5 impact case studies to the REF. It was rated 7th in the country for research power, a measure of both the number of people submitted and the overall quality of research. Our impact case studies were also assessed very highly. This reflects the excellent quality and quantity of impactful research being undertaken in the school.
The RKE Committee runs a bi-weekly seminar series throughout the year and hosts inaugural professorial lectures. For more information about ongoing events and outputs by our research and knowledge exchange community go to:
Professor Lindsay Bremner, SA+C Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange
RESEARCH GROUPS
Architectural Humanities
Members of the Architectural Humanities Research Group address critical questions about architecture and its historical, social and cultural contexts by engaging with a range of humanities-based methods, including interdisciplinary approaches that bring together arts and sciences.
Convened by Davide Deriu and Kate Jordan
Emerging Territories
The Emerging Territories Research Group focuses on societal and environmental challenges faced by cities and territories in relation to evolving notions of sustainability and resilience, climate change, healthy cities, governance, diversity and social inclusion.
Convened by Krystallia Kamvasinou and Giulio Verdini
Design Practices
The Design Practices Research Group unites designers who teach and research through practice with academic researchers using formal design methods. The group aims to advance understanding, promote innovative approaches, and encourage ongoing debate about the role of design within complex system interactions.
Convened by Will McLean and Victoria Watson
Place and Experience
The Place and Experience Research Group focuses on tourism, events and leisure research with specialisms in: City Tourism, Mega Events, Urban Parks, Destination Experiences, and Sustainability.
Convened by Stroma Cole and Ilaria Pappalepore
Transport and Mobilities
The Transport and Mobilities Research Group covers a diverse range of aspects of urban movement, including: City Mobilities, Active Travel, Freight, Infrastructure Investment, Networks, Accessibility, and Transport Equity.
Convened by Gerald Gurtner and Enrica Papa
RESEARCH CENTRES
Active Travel Academy [ATA]
The ATA is an interdisciplinary research and knowledge exchange centre that currently leads projects funded by organisations including NIHR, DfT and TfL. It hosts the Active Travel Studies journal and organises events including the regular Walking and Cycling@Teatime seminars.
Director: Rachel Aldred
Rachel Aldred, Ersilia Verlinghieri, Harrie Larrington-Spencer, Jamie Furlong, David Fevyer
Centre for Air Traffic Management Research
The Centre for ATM Research builds on around 40 years of air, rail and urban transport research, consultancy and teaching at the University of Westminster. We have coordinated and led work across over 40 major European ATM research projects, primarily funded by organisations including SESAR, Clean Aviation, EUROCONTROL and Horizon Europe.
Director: Andrew Cook
Co-Director: Luis Delgado
Centre for the Study of Production
of the Built Environment
ProBE offers a research hub providing a forum for debate and discussion, and a focus for interdisciplinary and international activity related to the Production of the Built Environment as a social, environmental and historical process.
Co-directors:
Rosa Schiano-Phan &
Alastair Blyth