My teaching covers theory and design. Since 2001, I have been teaching MArch design studio (as studio 2 co-ordinator, in collaboration with Aidan Hoggard) and mentored a number of live projects including Ecobox, Participative Garden, Shelter Dakar/Sheffield, IYO, Ecoproof. I have been teaching theory courses at both undergraduate and post-graduate level and have been co-ordinator of the MArch Humanities, including the Theory & Research and MArch Dissertation. I have co-organised a number of Theory Forums (Architecture and Participation, Architecture and Technologies of Power, Architecture and Indeterminacy, Agency) and been involved in the student led TF Ecology. In 2012, I organise the School Forum on issues of social production of architecture.

Director of Graduate School (since 2009)

My research focuses on three main strands – Gender and space within contemporary society, Participation in Architecture and Culture & Resilience, all with a strong international dimension.

The research into the first strand has conducted to a number of lectures and publications including the edited book - Altering Practices: Feminist Politics and Poetics of Space (Routledge 2006) and a few important articles.

The second strand concerns issues of Space governance, Community planning and Participation in architecture, with a number of articles and a co-edited book -Architecture and Participation (Spon Press, 2005). Most of research and actions conducted by Atelier d´Architecture Autogérée (AAA) cover these topics.

The work of AAA is also at the core of the third strand. The cultural–ecological project ‘Passage 56’, which has received a number of international awards, has also become important international reference for bottom up ecological retrofitting of dense urban areas.

Investigations have been conducted across the three strands, as in publications like Urban/ACT, A Handbook for Alternative Practice, (aaa-peprav, 2007) and Trans – Local – Production: Cultural practices within and across (Paris: aaa-peprav 2010). I am an active member of the Research Centre: Agency Transformative Research into Architectural Practice and Education. With Agency I have developed teaching related research and have participated in two EU funded projects: PEPRAV and Rhyzom, coordinated by AAA. Agency is currently involved in another EU funding project Eco-Nomadic School, conducted as a Grundtvig lifelong learning partnership.

I am also co-founder of the international peer reviewed e-journal field: based in Sheffield.

Since 2001, I have published 6 books, over 45 articles and chapters in books and refereed journals and over 30 articles in catalogues and conference papers. My work has been shown in prestigious exhibitions including the European Prize for Urban Public Space touring exhibition, the Canadian Centre of Architecture Getty Foundation, CCC Barcelona, The Rotterdam Biennale of Architecture/NAI, Berlin Biennale, Venice Biennale, London Biennale of Design, Documenta 11 in Kassel.

Member of RIBA President Silver Medal Panel for Research
Member of EAAE Research Panel
Member of international advisory board for FORMAS, Sweden
Academic referee for Goldsmiths University, FNRS Belgium, MIT Press USA
Peer Reviewer for ARQ, Journal of Architecture, Field

External Examiner: Goldsmiths University / MA Design+Environment (2010-2013), University of Ulster / MA Art in Public (2008-2011), Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU) Faculty of Visual Arts and Design / MA Spatial design / MA Fashion Design / MA Communication Design (2009-2012)

External Censor: School of Architecture, Chalmers University Goteborg

2011

Grundtvig EC lifelong learning programme, Total Grant €74,000
Eco-Nomadic School, partnership: AAA (Paris) coordinator, Agency/UoS (Sheffield), FCDL(Brezoi), myvillages.com(Hofen)
PI/ UoS, €20 000

Life+ EC programme for Environment Policy and Governance +
French Ministry of Ecology, Ile de France Region and the City of Colombes, Total Grant €1,500,000
R-URBAN
(Life + pilot project) Participative strategy of development, practices and networks of local resilience for European cities
AAA (Paris) coordinator +
Research action project exploring ecological complementarities between dwelling, production and culture in suburban contexts.
PI/AAA - € 80,000
CI/ UoS - €10,000

2009

European Commission, Directorate General for Education and Culture, Total Grant €380,000
RHYZOM: Local Cultural Practices, Translocal Communication
partnership: aaa (Paris) coordinator, Agency (Sheffield), PS2 (Bel
ast), Plaforma Garanti (Istanbul), Public Works (London)
CI / Agency, UoS - €46,500

European Cultural Foundation (ECF) - Total Grant €15000
RHYZOM: Local Cultural Practices
Aaa (grant holder)+Partnership: Agency Research Center (Sheffield), P
2 (Belfast), Plaforma Garanti (Istanbul), Public Works (London)
PI / AAA - €15,000

City of Paris, ‘Label Paris-Europe’ - Total Grant €10,000
Eco-Chantier
Pegagogical Network for the wide dissemination of ecological urban practices
Aaa (grant holder)+University of Sheffield
PI / AAA - €10,000

IBL Grant, CILASS, TUOS, University of Sheffield - Total Grant £3,930
Integrating critical pedagogy into the `Theory Forum’
The Agency Research Group (Cristina Cerulli, Florian Kossak, Doina Petrescu, Tatjana Schneider and Stephen Walker)
PI /Agency, UoS - £3,930

2006

European Commission, Directorate General for Education and Culture - Total Grant €190,000
European Platform for Alternative Action and Research on the City (PEPRAV)
Partnership: AAA (Paris)- coordinator, School of Architecture, University of Sheffield, Recyclart (Brussells).
PI / UoS (with f. Kossak,, and T. Schneider) - €20,000

PUCA (Plan Urbanisme ConstructionArchitecture), the French Ministry of Urban Planning and the Ministry of Culture, within the framework of ‘Art, Architecture and Landscape’ research programme - Research contract value €54,000
Interstices Urbains Temporaires, Espaces Interculturels en Chantier
Research team: C. Petcou (AAA), P.N Le Strat (ISCRA) D. Petrescu (AAA/U Sheffield), F. Deck ( ESBA Grenoble), S.Wright (CIP)
PI/ UoS - €9,000

2005

Arts Council, Belfast - Total Grant €20,000
Mechanics of Fluids
Research & exhibition in Belfast within the project Urban Clearance- a critical transformation and re-interpretation of public space and its social use
Team: PS 2 (Grant holder) and AAA
PI/ AAA - €3,000

Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst, Bremen
Critical Urbanism
Research & exhibition A Lucky Strike- Changing Habitats, Inventing Communities, AAA (Grant holder)
PI/ AAA - €5,000

European Commission, Directorate General for Education and Culture - Total Grant €250,000
Egnatia: an interdisciplinary research project on issues of migration in Europe - project funded by the Culture 2000 grant for cultural collaboration and research.
Partnership: Stalker/ Osservatorio Nomade (Rome) -coordinator, Atelier d’Architecture Autogeree (Paris) and Oxymoron (Athens)
PI/ AAA - €38,000

Carolyn Butterworth (UK) – The Creative Survey in Architectur

Carl Frazer (UK) – The Protest Space (Stephenson studentship)

Jordan Lloyd (UK) – The Resilient City (TUOS studentship)

K. Trogal (UK), Care of Space: Feminist ethics and political agencies in contemporary art, architecture and urban practice RIBA Ozoline studentship)

S. Wungpatcharapon (Thailand), Participation and Place-making in Thailand (Thai Government studentship)

S. Vardy (UK) Architecture and Self-Organisation: the implications and opportunities of self-initiated spatial processes for architectural practice

Julia Udall (UK) - Architecture by Other Means: Transformative Practices (TUOS studentship)

N. Awan (UK), Diasporic Cartography and Multiculturalism in Architecture (AHRC studentship- completed 2011)

Andrea Wheeler (UK, University of Nottingham), With Place Love Begins- The Philosophy of Luce Irigaray, The Issues of Dwelling, Feminism and Architecture, AHRC studentship (completed 2004) co-supervisor

I am member of aaa (atelier d’architecture autogérée/ studio of self-managed architecture), a research led practice founded in 2001 by Constantin Petcou and myself in Paris, including architects, artists, urban planners, landscape designers, sociologists, activists, students and residents. aaa conducts actions and research concerning urban mutations and cultural, social and political emerging practices in the contemporary city and has became an important reference for contemporary participative practices in architecture. aaa’s work has recently been awarded the European Prize for Urban Public Space - Special Mention 2010 and the 2nd place at Prix Grand Public des Architectures contemporaines en Métropole Parisienne competition in 2010.

In 2001, I was a Winner of Envers des Villes research & travel fellowship granted by AFAA, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Books in print

1) D. Petrescu, C. Petcou, N. Awan (eds) (2010) Trans – Local – Production: Cultural practices within and across (Paris: aaa-peprav) ISBN 978-2-9530751-1-4 (1000 copies paperback) 270p.

2) F. Kossak, D. Petrescu, R. Tyszczuk, T. Schneider and S. Walker (eds) (2009) Agency: Working with Uncertain Architectures (London: Routlege) ISBN: 978-0-415-56602-5, (2000 copies hardback/ paperback) 250p

3) D. Petrescu (ed) (2007), Altering Practices: Feminist Politics and Poetics of Space (London: Routledge) ISBN: 9780415357869 (paperback), ISBN: 9780415357852 (2000 copies hardback/ paperback),

4) atelier d’architecture autogeree (ed) (2007), Urban/ACT, A Handbook for Alternative Practice, (Paris: aaa-peprav) 300p ISBN (1000 copies – sold-out)

5) J.Till, D. Petrescu and P. Blundell Jones (eds) (2005), Architecture and Participation, ( London: Spon Press) ISBN: 0203588223, 282p

6) D. Petrescu, A. Riera, I. Guillaume (2001), Association (des pas): notes-photographies-questions, (Guise: Collection Familistère par lui même, Syndicat mixte du Familistère Godin) ISBN: 2843030263, 116p (in French)

Chapters in print

1) D.Petrescu, C. Petcou (2011), At the Ground Level of the City in Lee Stickells and Zanny Begg The Right to the City, Sydney: Tin Sheds Gallery Press, pp.70-76

2) Atelier d’Architecture Autogeree (2010), EcoBox/Self-­Managed Eco­urban Network in Mohsen Mostafavi, Ecological Urbanism, Harvard: University Press, pp.510-511

3) D.Petrescu, C. Petcou / Atelier d'Architecture Autogeree (2010), At the Ground Level of the City in A. Mendez, Urbanaccion 07/09, Madrid: La Casa Encendida, (In English and Spanish), pp.220-25

4) D. Petrescu (2009), ‘Relationscapes’ in Annelie Kurttila, Drombyggen/ Mindscapes- The Swedish Museum of Architecture’s Yearbook 2009, Swedish Museum of Architecture, (Swedish / English) pp.40-55

5) D. Petrescu (2009), ‘How to make a community as well as the space for it’ in The Rururban Plot, Galicia: CGAC (Spanish / English) 2009, pp.107-112

6) F.Kossak, D.Petrescu, R. Tyszczuk, T. Schneider and Stephen Walker (2009), ‘Agency’ in Agency: Working with Uncertain Architectures, London: Routlege 2009 pp

7) D. Petrescu (2007), ‘How to make a community as well as the space for it’ in Space Shuttle, Belfast: PS2, pp.45-50

8) D. Petrescu (2007), ‘Introduction’ and ‘From Alterities and Beyond’ in D. Petrescu (ed), Altering Practices: Feminist Politics and Poetics of Space, London: Routledge, 2007, pp xiii-xx and pp.1-14.

9) D. Petrescu (2006), ‘Working towards a real public space’, in Public Works if you can’t find it, give us a ring, Birmingham: IXIA, pp.77-91

10) D. Petrescu (2005), ‘Planning losing control’ in Architecture and Participation, London: Routledge, pp.43-64

Refereed Journals - in print – original articles

1) D. Petrescu (2010) ‘Tactics of Faux Migration/ Tacticile falsei migratii’ in PAVILION – journal for politics and culture,15/2010 ‘Handlung: On Producing Possibilities’ (in Romanian and English) pp.90-109 (P)

2) D. Petrescu and C. Petcou,(2010), ‘Why Rurban’ in Verge Journal, Vol1/1 Dublin, pp.8-9(P)

3) The Agency (Blundell Jones P., Kossak F., Tyszczuk R., Petrescu D., Schneider T. and Walker S) (2009), ‘Before and After Agency’ in Footprint: Delft School of Design Journal, 4/2009, Delft : School of Design pp.113-122 (J)

4) D. Petrescu, P.Chiles (2009) and The Agency, ‘Agency: alternative practices and alternative worlds’, in Architectural Research Quarterly ARQ 13/ 2, 2009, pp.109-111(P)

5) D. Petrescu (2008), ‘How to Reclaim the Common’ (2008) in Operation City 2008 /The Neoliberal Frontline: Urban Struggles in Post-Socialist Societies, conference newsletter, Zagreb pp.12-13 (P)

6) D. Petrescu and C. Petcou (2007), ‘Agir l’Espace’ in Multitudes n31, Paris, autumn (In French/English) pp.100-114 (P)

7) H.Startford, D. Petrescu and C.Petcou (2008) ‘The Poetic Resistance in Architecture’ in ARQ, Vol. 12/2, 2008, pp.149-158 (J)

8) A. Negri, D. Petrescu, A. Querrien, C. Petcou (2008) ‘Qu’est ce qu’un lieu biopolitique?’ in Multitudes n31, Paris, autumn 2007, republished in Norvegian and English in Eurozine and Le Monde Diplomatique, Berlin (J)

9) D. Petrescu and C. Petcou (2008) ‘Politiques de l’Interstice, in Geste n5/ Paris, (in French) pp. 56-71 (J)

10) D. Petrescu (2007), ‘Indeterminate mappings of the common’ in Field: a free journal for architecture, Volume 1 / 1 ‘(Architecture and Indeterminacy’), September 2007, School of Architecture, University of Sheffield, pp. 88-96 (P)

11) Atelier d’Architecture Autogerée (2007), ‘L’architecture action: de la co-participation à l’autogestion ‘ in ECOrev, journal of political ecology n27, automn 2007, (in French) pp. 25-37 (J)

12) D. Petrescu (2006), ‘Tracer là ce qui nous échappe’, in Multitudes n24, summer 2006, Paris, ed. Exils. pp 45-42 (in French/ English) (P)

13) D. Petrescu (2006) ‘How to make a community as well as the space for it’ in Cities in Flux: New Democratic Forms and Urban Space, Athens: Papandreau Foundation (in Greek / English)(P)

14) D. Petrescu, C. Petcou (2005) ‘Le Rez de Chausee de la Ville’, in Multitudes n20 : spring 2005, Paris: ed. Exils, (in French / English) pp.40-49 (P)