Professor Heather Campbell

Room number: D21
Telephone (internal): 26306
Telephone (UK): 0114 222 6306
Telephone (International): +44 114 222 6306
Email: h.j.campbell@sheffield.ac.uk

Academic profile

I was awarded a BA in Geography from the University of Durham in 1987 and an MA in Town and Regional Planning from the University of Sheffield in 1990.
I completed my PhD in the Department of Town and Regional Planning, University of Sheffield in 1990 and was appointed as Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer from 1991 – 99.
I was made Professor of Town and Regional Planning at the University of Sheffield in 1999 and was Head of Department in the Department of Town and Regional Planning from 2003 – 2007.

Research interests

How can we judge between better and worse in relation to decisions concerning place and space?
More particularly how can we ensure justice in relation to place-related outcomes and processes?
These are the central questions which dominate my research interests and activities.

Current research

In my recent writing I have focused attention on issues of ethical values, just outcomes and the public good as well as the nature of the relationship between knowledge and action. I seek to get beyond critical analysis of inequality and injustice to consider how policy interventions can be rendered more just and equitable. I explore the nature of judgement and justice arguing that just planning is the `art of situated ethical judgement´. This in turn links to the work of others in the Department, who are concerned to explore and develop contemporary conceptualisations of social justice. Complementing this research has been an exploration of the role of `technical´ information in policy-making. This has involved studies of the process of technological change, in particular the organisational and institutional issues influencing the effective implementation of computing technologies, such as GIS, and the role of the resulting knowledge in policy-making processes. I currently lead the Planning Theory and Practice Research Cluster. For further information click here.

Teaching

My teaching seeks to explore the interface between conceptual ideas and public policy-making about space and place. Currently I am teaching modules which examine questions of ethical values and knowledge in planning, justice and theory and ethics in the built environment.

I teach on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses including:

TRP326 Values, Theory and Ethics in Planning
TRP 6403 Values in Planning
TRP 6411 Theory and Ethics in the Built Environment
TRP 6060 Values in Planning
TRP 6291 / 4281 Justice, Judgement and Planning

Key publications

• Campbell, H.,and Fainstein,S.S (Eds) (2012). Justice, urban politics and policy, in K. Mossberger, S.E.Clarke and P.John, Oxford Handbook of Urban Politics, Oxford University Press: Oxford (J).
• Editorial: The idea of planning: alive or dead – who cares? Planning Theory and Practice, 11 (4), 2010, pp.471 - 475
• Campbell, H. (2006). Just planning: the art of situated ethical judgement, Journal of Planning Education and Research, 26(1), pp 92-106. (Honourable Mention, ACSP Chester Rapkin Prize for the best paper published in JPER.)
• Campbell, H. And Marshall, R. (2012) Utilitarianism’s bad breadth? A re-evaluation of the public interest justification for planning, in S. Fainstein and S. Campbell, Readings in Planning Theory, (3rd Edition) Wiley-Blackwell: Oxford, pp. 111-131 (Reprint of Planning Theory 1(2), pp. 163-187 (J).)
• Campbell, H. Planning to change the world: between knowledge and action lies synthesis, submitted to Journal of Planning Education and Research. [Immediate conditional acceptance, revisions completed. Now to be par- Campbell, H. (2012) “Planning ethics” and rediscovering the idea of planning, Planning Theory. [On-line-first published 17 April 2012 - doi:10.1177/1473095212442159 .
• Campbell, H. (2012) Planning to change the world: between knowledge and action lies synthesis, Journal of Planning Education and Research, 32(2), pp. 135-146. [Part of Symposium, which includes the following podcast: (http://jper.sagepub.com/
• Campbell, H. Editorial: Lots of words.... but do any of them matter? The challenge of engaged scholarship, Planning Theory and Practice, 13(3), 2012, pp. (forthcoming)
• Campbell, H. and Fainstein, S.S (2012) Justice, urban politics and policy, in K. Mossberger, S.E. Clarke and P. John, Oxford Handbook of Urban Politics, Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 545-566.
• Campbell, H. and Marshall, R. (2012) Utilitarianism’s bad breadth? A re-evaluation of the public interest justification for planning, in S. Fainstein and S. Campbell, Readings in Planning Theory, (3rd Edition) Wiley-Blackwell: Oxford, pp. 111-131 (Reprint of Planning Theory, 1(2), pp. 163-187.)t of a Symposium to be published in June 2012].

Other information

I have been involved in the development of professional planning education in the UK as Deputy Chair of the Royal Town Planning Institute sponsored Education Commission; and currently membership of the Institute´s Education Review Group and Accreditation Partnership Panel. I am a Chartered Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute.

I have been invited to give policy advice to HM Treasury, Department for Communities and Local Government, Department for Innovation, Universities and Science, in the form of the Foresight Project, Barker Review Expert Panel, Sir Michael Lyons Review of Local Government. I have research and practical expertise in the professional ethics and am currently an advisor to Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council on issues of governance and scrutiny.

Other roles include: Academician, Academy of Social Sciences (2010-), Deputy Chair of the RAE 2008 Sub-Panel for Town and Country Planning (H31) (2005-08), Senior Editor (2009-) of the journal Planning Theory and Practice, and previously founding Editor (1999-08) of the innovative Interface section. Visiting positions: University of California, Berkeley, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University. I am currently seconded to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield as an adviser on the civic university and strategic planning.