Dr Aidan While: General Information
Senior Lecturer in Town and Regional Planning
Research interests
Drawing on a multi-disciplinary background in art history, literary theory, geography and land-use planning, my research interests cut across political, economic, environmental and cultural dimensions of urban and regional development. My work is centrally concerned with exploring how decisions about urban and regional development are mediated through political negotiation, struggle and compromise at different scales of territoriality. Particular emphasis is placed on the relative powers and capacities of different individuals and interests within networks of regulation in capitalist societies. Combining theoretical and empirical investigation, my research currently focuses on three main substantive areas:
(1) The politics of Local and Regional Economic Development
My PhD examined processes of region-building and regional economic development in England during the 1990s (awarded in 2000). This was undertaken alongside continuing work on local labour market policies and the changing context for urban economic development in England in an era of 'urban renaissance'. More recently, work on the territorial politics of economic development has focused on planning for high-growth new economy spaces, looking particularly at the link between collective provision and economic development. Initial research on spatial planning and growth politics in Cambridge (UK) is currently being extended to look internationally at the experience of other 'New Industrial Spaces' such as Munich, Helsinki, Seattle and Bangalore.
(2) Environmentalism and the Re-Regulation of Society and Space
A distinctive element of my work has been to bring the environment and ecology more centrally into the politics of urban and regional development, particularly in terms of responses to more stringent environmental regulation. Building on earlier work at the urban and regional scale, this strand of work was developed through an ESRC project on the Governance and Regulation of Local Environmental Policy with Professors David Gibbs and Andrew Jonas at the University of Hull, which focused on in-depth research into economy-state-environment and economy-ecology relations in six English localities. Ongoing work in this area is based around: (1) the changing context for urban environmental policy, and its tensions, conflicts and complementarities with other demands on cities; and (2) empirical and conceptual research into conservation planning and economy-ecology relations in nature-dependent industries. My current work in this area focuses on climate change and the new politics of carbon control.
(3) The Cultural Economy of Cities
My long-standing interest in the cultural economy of cities is currently reflected in ongoing work on geographies of art worlds, as well as a recently-completed research project on preservation politics and (changing) attitudes to the legacy of post-war modernist architecture and planning in English. The post-war project focused on the politics of post-war listing at national and local levels, and included case-study research in Plymouth, Portsmouth, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle and London. Initial findings from the post-war project are available on request.
PhD Research Topics:
I would welcome the opportunity to supervise topics relating to my main research interests. Current topics of interest include:
- Urban environmental policy and politics, including the emerging politics of low-carbon regulation, and the reworking of state-society relations around new modes of environmental regulation.
- Spatial planning and economic development, including the territorial management of uneven development, the relationship between the economic and extra-economic dimensions of spatial planning, and economy-environment relations in economic development
- The cultural economy of cities, including geographies of cultural industries and the politics of culture-led regeneration. I would particularly welcome PhD research on the business of contemporary art.
- The modernist cityscape in the past, present and future.
This is far from an exhaustive list and potential applicants should contact me if they have relevant topics they would like to research. My interests are not restricted to the UK, and applications are encouraged from students interested in researching these themes around the world.
Education
BA (Hons) Combined Arts (History of Art, English, History), University of Leicester, First Class;
MA in The Word and the Visual Imagination, University of Wales;
Masters in Civic Design (MCD), University of Liverpool;
PhD 'Regional Partnerships and Economic Development in England', Leeds Metropolitan University
Previous Posts
Research Assistant/Officer, CUDEM, Leeds Metropolitan University;
Research Fellow, Department of Geography, University of Hull;
Lecturer in Urban Planning, School of Planning and Landscape, University of Manchester
Tel: +44 (0)114 222 6184
Fax: +44 (0)114 272 2199
email : a.h.while@sheffield.ac.uk
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