Dr Amparo Tarazona Vento

School of Geography and Planning

Lecturer

A.Tarazona-Vento@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 6924

Room D26a, Geography and Planning Building

Full contact details

Dr Amparo Tarazona Vento
School of Geography and Planning
Room D26a
Geography and Planning Building
Winter Street
Sheffield
S3 7ND

Profile

I have a multidisciplinary perspective on the built environment, with degrees and professional experience covering architecture, urban design, planning, urban sociology and political economy.

I qualified as an architect and urban planner in Spain following postgraduate level studies at the Technical University of Valencia. I also hold an MA in Urban Design from Oxford Brookes University, the equivalent to an MPhil in Urban and Regional Planning from the Technical University of Madrid, and a PhD in Planning Studies from UCL.

Prior to starting my doctoral studies, I practised as an architect for several years. I also worked for the Superior Council for Scientific Research in Madrid, where I was involved in the elaboration of the Spanish Building Code.

After completing my PhD, I was an Urban Studies Foundation Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow.

I joined the Department of Urban Studies and Planning as a Lecturer in September 2018.

Research interests

My research brings together my interests in architecture, urban design and planning, with my interests in questions of power and decision-making.

It investigates the contested politics of urban regeneration and the political economy of urbanisation and city-making, placing special focus on the analysis of the meanings, symbolisms and narratives attached to architecture and urban space.

I am particularly interested in the political mobilisation of the symbolism of iconic architecture, and on the contribution of grassroots politics to place making.

Publications

Journal articles

Tarazona Vento A (2025) Megaprojects in austerity times: Populism, politicisation, and the breaking of the neoliberal consensus. Urban Studies, 62(1), 92-108. View this article in WRRO
Tarazona-Vento A & Atkinson R (2024) Commanding heights: the role of wealthy 'starchitects' in city remaking. City, 28(3-4), 419-436. View this article in WRRO
Tarazona Vento A (2017) Mega-project meltdown: Post-politics, neoliberal urban regeneration and Valencia’s fiscal crisis. Urban Studies, 54(1), 68-84.
Tarazona Vento A (2015) Santiago Calatrava and the ‘Power of Faith’: Global Imaginaries in Valencia. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 39(3), 550-567.
Phelps NA, Vento AT & Roitman S (2015) The suburban question: grassroots politics and place making in Spanish suburbs. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 33(3), 512-532.

Book chapters

Vento AT (2024) Flagship architecture and city branding, Routledge Companion to Creativity and the Built Environment (pp. 283-292). Routledge
(2022) Iconic architecture, How the other half lives Manchester University Press
Tarazona-Vento A (2022) Iconic architecture: seduction and subversion, How the Other Half Lives Interconnecting Socio Spatial Inequalities (pp. 84-99).
Vento AT (2017) 2. Madrid: The Making of a Global City Region and the Role of the Suburbs, Old Europe, New Suburbanization? (pp. 18-40). University of Toronto Press
Phelps NA & Vento AT (2015) 7. Suburban Governance In Western Europe, Suburban Governance (pp. 155-176). University of Toronto Press
Phelps NA & Vento AT (2015) Suburban governance in Western Europe, Suburban Governance A Global View (pp. 155-176).

Teaching activities

Currently I teach on the following modules:

TRP6423 - Principles of Urban Design
TRP215 - International Field Class: Urban Growth and Design
TRP473/673 - Mega urban projects for the future city