Dr Malcolm Tait

Room number: D11b
Telephone (internal): 26907
Telephone (UK): 0114 222 6919
Telephone (International): +44 114 222 6919
Email: m.tait@sheffield.ac.uk
Senior Lecturer in Town and Regional Planning

Academic profile

I studied Geography at Durham University and went on to do an MA in Town and Regional Planning at the University of Sheffield in 1997. I completed my PhD in Town and Regional Planning at Sheffield in 2000.
I was appointed as Research Associate and Research Assistant at Cardiff University on the ESRC-funded project ‘The Urban Village: A real or imagined contribution to sustainable development’. In 2001 I was made Lecturer in the Department of Town and Regional Planning at Sheffield in 2001, and Senior Lecturer in 2009.

Research interests

Planning theory, particularly ideas of the public interest and trust in planning; understanding relations between planners and developers; the significance of planning ideas and how they circulate both historically and currently.

Current research

1) Trust and Planning

I am currently interested in mapping the importance of trust in planning and in the work of planners. I have explored this in a number of directions. I have developed work with Chris Swain exploring the extent to which a `crisis of trust´ exists in planning as an activity and what implications this has for the planning profession (see Swain and Tait, 2007). I have also started to develop comparative work exploring trust relations in emerging regional planning arenas in England and Denmark with Carsten Jahn Hansen at Aalborg University (see Tait and Hansen, 2007). I am also interested in mapping the significance and form of trust relations in the day-to-day work of planners. Through funding from the British Academy, I have carried out an ethnographic study of planners in a local authority in the South West of England to explore how relations of trust are constructed in the contemporary local government environment. In particular, the extent to which performance management regimes (targets, indicators) affect how trust is built by different actors in planning has been explored.

2) Urban Villages

I have also written and researched on urban villages (with Mike Biddulph and Bridget Franklin). This work explored the value of the urban village concept and its application in practice examining the means by which the urban village concept has arisen as a noteworthy model for development. The project also assessed the practicality of implementing the urban village model, and used case studies in London, Birmingham and Merseyside to evaluate developments termed 'urban villages'.

3) Theorising Urban Intervention

"Work to understand and theorise how planners and others intervene in processes of urban development springs from my work on urban villages. I am currently exploring theoretical issues associated with urban intervention in collaboration with Ole B Jensen at Aalborg University, Denmark. Drawing on examples of urban villages, Business Improvement Districts and other sources, we have explored issues such as the use and dissemination of models of urban intervention and the role of spatial re-presentation in managing urban change (see Tait and Jensen, 2007). Further work develops the notion of 'travelling ideas' and how they are materialised in distinct locations through professionalised discourses. I have also worked on issues of citizen participation in urban regeneration through the INTERREG IIIB project: Vitalizing City Centres through Integrated Spatial Planning (see VISP). Finally, I am interested in how plans are constructed, interpreted and used in managing urban development. Recent work with Aidan While investigates the significance of historical plans in shaping current urban redevelopment (While and Tait, 2009) and the ontology of conserving the built environment (Tait and While, 2009)."

Teaching

All my teaching seeks to link how we think about planning with how we act as planners. Understanding the concepts that underpin many planning programmes is crucial to realising the possibilities of creating better planning responses. Much of my teaching involves project based work, opening space for students to respond to real life situations and to reflect on the actions that might be taken in response to these. This includes work with masters students to recreate the decision making situations of local government, and work to prepare plans and designs for areas in Sheffield. Undergraduate teaching focuses on using real life examples of plans, documents, and policies to explore the broader questions that underpin the activity of planning.

I teach the following modules:

TRP 133 Development Planning and the State
TRP 6401 Spatial Planning Systems
TRP 6405 Integrated Project
TRP 6406 Dissertation

Key publications

• Tait, M. (2011) Trust and the Public Interest in the Micro-Politics of Planning Practice, Journal of Planning Education and Research, Vol.31(2), pp.157-171
• Tait, M. (2009) Ontology and the conservation of built heritage, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Vol.27(4), pp.721-737 with A. While
• Tait, M. (2007) Travelling Ideas, Power and Place: The cases of Urban Villages and Business Improvement Districts, International Planning Studies, Vol.12(2), pp.107-127, with O. B. Jensen
• Tait, M. (2007) The Crisis of Trust and Planning, Planning Theory and Practice, Vol.8(2), pp.229-247, with C. Swain
• Tait, M. (2002) Room for manoeuvre? An actor-network study of central-local relations in development plan making, Planning Theory and Practice, Vol.3(1) pp.69-85

Other information

I am Director of Postgraduate Programmes in the Department and Course Director for the MA in Town and Regional Planning. I also hold a Visiting Lecturer position at Aalborg University, Denmark.

I would welcome the opportunity to supervise PhD students whose topics match my research interests:

1. The profession of planning, including its changing role in new (local authority) governance contexts. I would also be particularly interested in PhD research on the role and values of private sector planning professionals.
2. Urban intervention, including how models and concepts get used by planners and others to shape places. This might include emerging concepts, such as ‘eco-towns’, and their interpretation by planners and others.