Who we are

Director of the Urban Institute and a Professor of Urban Knowledge Governance. Beth also leads the Urban Institute’s Co-producing Urbanisms theme.

Jon is a Professor at the Urban Institute and is undertaking comparative investigations on the urbanization process with a focus on infrastructure, uneven development and urban politics.

Vanesa’s research focuses on the governance of global environmental change in the urbanization age.

Linda is a Senior Research Fellow at the Urban Institute. My research revolves around environmental politics, with a focus on urban climate governance, transformations, and justice.

Vicky is a highly competent and qualified research manager with over 20 years’ experience managing interdisciplinary research centres and institutes in the HE sector.

I am a feminist critical geographer focused on postcolonial contexts in the domains of mobilities, borders and citizenship; urban inequalities; and digitisation and governance.

I am Chair in Inclusive Societies. My work focuses on social inequalities and cities, urban violence and disorder, illicit finance in property, and hostile architecture.

Theo is an urban geographer working on housing, space, rent, speculation, and social reproduction.

A lecturer in sociology (Birmingham City University) and a visiting researcher at the Urban Institute (University of Sheffield).

Olivia is a social anthropologist engaged in interdisciplinary and collaborative research. Her research is concerned with society’s complex challenges such as racial inequalities, political and racial violence, and the (post)colonial city.

Bei Chen is a PhD student in Urban Studies and Planning. Her research programme focuses on the socio-political dimensions of China’s AI and robotic policy visions and implementation in urban contexts.

Polly is a student in her second year undertaking a BA in Human Geography that explores the relationship between people and the planet.

Everyday policing and punishment
Being and belonging in the city
The politics of crisis
Concepts of urban justice

My research intersects architecture, urbanism, and development studies, driven by a commitment to creating just and sustainable urban futures. I co-lead the non-profit Architecture Sans Frontières UK.

Aïcha Diallo is an urban cultural researcher, curator, editor, and educator. Her work explores the intersections of urban spaces, art and culture, and inequality, with a particular focus on African and diasporic spatial practices. Diallo critically examines how these practices engage with global social dynamics, emphasising curatorial projects, critical writing, and public engagement. She is deeply committed to collaborative methodologies and an ongoing interrogation of institutional frameworks.

David will join the UI for as a visiting fellow for 12 months from 1 September 2024, supported by Vanesa Castán Broto, with whom he has worked with on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as Coordinating Lead Author.

Welcome our new Research Project Administrator

Desiree's research revolves around the role of housing in capitalist urbanization.

Claudia is Project Researcher at the Institute for Urban Research, Malmö University, Sweden. She is a postcolonial and feminist urban scholar with expertise in Latin America.

Dr Richard Goulding joined the University of Sheffield as a research associate in December 2020. He holds a PhD from Sheffield, and an MA and BA from the University of Manchester.

My research interests include urban indigeneity; diversity and the right to the city; citizen-led and participatory planning with a focus on Latin American and African cities.

Xinyu Hu's research mainly focuses on the spatial structure and distribution of urban public service facilities.

Ping is a social scientist specializing in low-carbon innovation and climate governance, focusing on China and other less-developed economics.

Zhengli Huang is a Research Associate at the Urban Institute

I am an urban geographer with a focus on common ownership, social movements, and urban governance.

Yannis Kallianos is an anthropologist employed on the project GlobalCORRIDOR, who works on issues of public space, urban infrastructure, and socio-political contestation.

I am Institute of Global Sustainable Development (IGSD) Research Theme Lead: Cities. My work engages the urbanisation of the world under contemporary globalised capitalism.

My work seeks to develop postcolonial approaches for climate and energy justice, conceptually drawing on the interfaces of knowledge, politics, postcolonial solidarity, development and culture.

Michele Lancione is Professor of Economic and Political Geography at the Polytechnic of Turin, Italy, and Visiting Professor of Urban Studies at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom.

Gabriela is a Ph.D. Candidate in Urban Studies and a researcher at interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences (CICS.NOVA, NOVA FCSH),

Andy's research continues to develop on ‘new ecologies of automation’.

Rachel's current research investigates the governance of urban transformations toward low-carbon heating and cooling systems.

Cat's research seeks to understand children and parent’s experiences of food insecurity and the role that schools play in alleviating this, with a particular interest in affect and food citizenship.

Simon's expertise in constructing conceptual understanding and empirical evidence of the changing relations between socio-technical networks and urban and regional restructuring.

PhD Title: Urban frictions. Prosperity turns within Nairobi’s water tinkering practices.
(Supervisors: Vanesa Castán Broto and Liz Sharp)

Current Teaching: MA Social Research & BA Applied Social Sciences

Director, Australian Centre for Culture, Environment, Society and Space, University of Wollongong

PhD Title: Becoming-Commons of the Public. Municipalist Counter-Planning Strategies.
(Supervisors: Doina Petrescu and Beth Perry)

Lalli Metsola is an Academy of Finland Research Fellow at the University of Helsinki whose current project looks at social infrastructuring and everyday governance in South African cities.

Ghada Mohamad is an architect who worked in academia and the industry in the United States and the Middle East before starting her PhD studies.

Junia Mortimer, International Fellow USF.

My work incorporates architecture, urbanism and religious studies, rooted in the notion of radical inclusivity. I explore what resources religious bodies may hold for inclusive, collective life.

Zarina's research addresses the politics and practices of achieving just and sustainable urban transitions.

PhD Title: Trade Unions and a Just Transition to Low Carbon.
(Supervisors: Beth Perry and Stephen Connelly)

Madeleine researches and teaches in the areas of urban studies and planning, focused on the theory and practice of governance and collaboration at the local level.

My project is part of the University of Sheffield Centre for Doctoral Training in Emerging Urban Inequalities.

Xira's research is on the role of cities as international actors and their participation in transnational municipal networks. 

Jonathan works with the Urban Institute on the controlled environments theme and urban infrastructure issues.

I am a researcher in Urban Planning exploring urban changes in small towns through the lens of land, inter- and intra-familial propertied relations, and land-related injustices.

Papia is a political scientist and public policy expert who works on the intersectionality between gender, language, education, and urban living in culturally diverse societies.

I am an international affiliate of the Informal Urbanism Research Hub at University of Melbourne. I co-founded and co-directs Estudio Abierto/Open Studio, a think+do tank on architecture and urbanism.

I am researching the processes through which the public are engaged in making and implementing environmental (water) policy.

Urbanist working on spatial compositions and collective operations in urban regions of the Global South.

Sri is investigating the displacement process of the riverbank settlements by flood-risk mitigation policy in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Fatima Tassadiq joined the UI on the GlobalCORRIDOR project to investigate the role of infrastructure corridors in shaping urbanisation processes and inequality in a series of global regions.

Sangita is a Research Associate for the JustGESI project at the Urban Institute

Simone is a Newton International Fellow undertaking the project ‘Reconsidering urban narratives in Brazil: Central areas in São Paulo as problems and potentialities.’

Bryony is Co-Pro Futures Inquiry Coordinator at the Urban Institute.

My research examines how cities and urban social life are being reimagined and redesigned in response to climate change and automation.

Matt's research is in the politics of urban air pollution governance with Sheffield Air.

Yuting joined the Urban Institute in 2025 as a Research Associate, working with Dr Linda Westman on the ERC-funded project PLURALIZE.

Juan is an urbanist undertaking research surrounding urban innovation from the perspective of urban socio-technical transformation.

Lili's research focuses on the Smart City, especially the relationship between the government and companies in the construction and operation of Smart City.

Dr Shizhi Zhang joined the Urban Institute in 2023 as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate. His research interests are Chinese politics and history, and global politics from a non-Western perspective.