PhD Projects

COLAB

The Urban Cultures research cluster brings together a diverse group of doctoral researchers whose work explores the complex relationships between people, place, design, and sustainability in contemporary urban environments. The PhD projects within the cluster address critical challenges such as urban regeneration, cultural identity, social inclusion, sustainable design, and community wellbeing across global contexts including China, the UK, Germany, and the Caribbean.

Through interdisciplinary approaches spanning architecture, design, planning, heritage, and social innovation, these researchers examine how cities evolve and how creative, participatory, and culturally informed practices can contribute to more resilient, inclusive, and liveable urban futures. Collectively, the cluster demonstrates how urban research can generate new knowledge that supports both theoretical advancement and real-world impact. Here are the PhD projects and doctoral researchers working within the Urban Cultures research cluster.

Wenbo Deng - The Roofing Narratives: Artistic Interpretations of Urban Transformations in Beijing in the 21st Century

Holly Doron – Co-creating Regenerative Futures: The role of architectural and social lab processes in communities shaping their civic and social infrastructures. M4C Collaborative Doctoral Award

Peter Douglas Osborn – From ‘The City in a Garden’ to ‘The Garden City’: Exploring the influence of George Cadbury and the garden village of Bournville in the emergence of the Garden City movement.

Wenhao Fang – Exploring the Triple bottom line Frameworks to achieve sustainability in tertiary packaging

Rameetha Hussain – Multi-sensory Dementia Friendly Neighbourhoods (Grow Your Own project)

Yifeng Liao – Rural Strategies for culture-driven growth: co-creating Chinese future villages

Marlon Malone – Sustainable Design processes for the future learning from vernacular practices in Caribbean islands

Samira Muller - Why not stand on the toilet seat? Adapting public urban toilet spaces to better serve a pluricultural society in contemporary Berlin

Isabelle Uner - How can social network analysis inform the development of networking approaches for increased intellectual capital in creative SMEs?

Rucheng Yang- Is Citywalk a way to drive urban micro-regeneration in contemporary China?

Xiaoyi Xu – Creative Edge: the exploration of regeneration around the Chinese Campuses

Yaohan Xing – How can service design empower people with Arthritis through design thinking and innovation

Emma Widdop – Re:connecting to our cities: exploring the quality of life in the public spaces around inter-modal transit hubs

Alexandra Voiculescu - Archival Intelligence: Human Insights and AI Tools in the Study of 20th-Century Concrete Architecture in the UK and Europe in the Post-carbon Era. M4C Award.