I was awarded an MA in Politics from the University of Glasgow in 1994. Whilst continuing my studies at Glasgow, I lectured part-time in HM Prison, Saughton, Edinburgh before gaining an MPhil in Urban Policy in 1998.

I became a part-time Research Associate on the ESRC-funded Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, within the Centre for Law and Society, University of Edinburgh and also joined the Department of Urban Studies, University of Glasgow as a part-time Research Assistant. I continued in both roles until 2000 when I was appointed as a full-time Research Fellow in the Department of Urban Studies and then Lecturer in Housing Studies in 2004.

I moved to Sheffield Hallam University in 2005, where I took up a post as Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research.  I became a Principal Research Fellow at Sheffield Hallam in 2006 and was appointed as Professor of Housing and Urban Governance in 2007.

In October 2011 I was appointed to the post of Professor of Town and Regional Planning in the Department.

I am Co-Executive Managing Editor of the Housing Studies journal. I was a member of the REF2014 sub-panel 16 and I am a member of sub-panel C13 for REF2021. I was formerly a Trustee of the Urban Studies Foundation and a member of the Housing Studies Association Executive Committee.

I am currently Faculty Director of Research and Innovation for the Faculty of Social Sciences.

The common theme to all my research has been urban governance, citizenship and social justice. Major threads of this include crime and anti-social behaviour policy, specialist interventions within the most vulnerable households, housing in neighbourhoods policy and evaluation and social cohesion – particularly ethnic and religious identity, social class and culture.

Current and Recent Research Projects

• UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (Economic & Social Research Council, Arts & Humanities Research Council, Joseph Rowntree Foundation)
• Welfare conditionality: Sanctions, support and behaviour change (Economic & Social Research Council)

My teaching combines social theory with up-to-date empirical research evidence and a policy focus. My primary teaching focus is on the history and development of urban places and housing policy and management.

PhD Supervision

I’m primary supervisor to the following PhD students:

• John Erskine, The informal economy in Yorkshire coalfield communities
• Philippa Hughes, Community land trusts
• Ruth Lucas, House price affordability and its impact on family formation choices amongst the graduate sector
• Martha Mingay, Community land trusts and the housing crisis

Edited Books

• Flint J & Kelly J (Eds.) (2013) Bigotry, Football and Scotland (Edinburgh University Press)
• Flint J & Raco M (Eds.) (2011) The Future of Sustainable Cities: Critical Reflections (Policy Press)
• Flint J and Robinson D (Eds.) (2008) Community Cohesion in Crisis? New Dimensions of Diversity and Difference (Policy Press)
• Flint J (Ed.) (2006) Housing, Urban Governance and Anti-social Behaviour: Perspectives, Policies and Practice (Policy Press)

Journal Articles

• Preece J, Crawford J, McKee K, Flint J & Robinson D (2019) Understanding Changing Housing Aspirations: A review of the evidence. Housing Studies. View this article in WRRO
• Flint J (2018) Encounters with the centaur state: advanced urban marginality and the practices and ethics of welfare sanctions regimes. Urban Studies. View this article in White Rose Research Online.
• Fletcher D & Flint J (2018) Welfare conditionality and social marginality: the folly of the tutelary state? Critical Social Policy. View this article in White Rose Research Online.
• Flint J, McNeill J, Batty E & Fletcher D (2016) Gamers or victims of the system? Welfare reform, cynical manipulation and vulnerability. Journal of Poverty and Social Justice. View this article in White Rose Research Online
• Ball E, Batty E & Flint J (2016) Intensive Family Intervention and the Problem Figuration of ‘Troubled Families’. Social Policy and Society, 15(02), 263-274. View this article in White Rose Research Online
• Crawford J & Flint J (2015) Rational Fictions and Imaginary Systems: Cynical Ideology and the Problem Figuration and Practise of Public Housing. Housing Studies, 30(5), 792-807. View this article in White Rose Research Online
• Flint J (2015) Housing and the Realignment of Urban Socio-Spatial Contracts. Housing, Theory and Society, 32(1), 39-53. View this article in White Rose Research Online
• Flint J (2013) Policing public housing: New York and British cities. Safer Communities, 12(1), 13-23.
• Flint J (2012) Housing Policy, the Right to the City and the Construction of Knowledge. International Journal of Housing Policy, 12(3), 253-261.
• Flint J (2012) Catholic Schools and Sectarianism in Scotland: educational places and the production and negotiation of urban space. Policy Futures in Education, 10(5), 507-517.
• Batty E & Flint J (2012) Talking 'bout poor folks (thinking 'bout my folks): Perspectives on comparative poverty in working class households. International Journal of Housing Policy, 13(1), 1-16.
• Flint J & Powell R (2012) The English city riots of 2011, 'Broken Britain' and the retreat into the present. Sociological Research Online, 17(3).
• Flint J (2012) The Inspection House and Neglected Dynamics of Governance: The Case of Domestic Visits in Family Intervention Projects. Housing Studies, 27(6), 822-838.
• Flint J (2011) The role of sanctions in intensive support and rehabilitation: Rhetoric, rationalities and realities. British Journal of Community Justice, 9(1-2), 55-67.
• Flint J (2011) Housing studies, social class and being towards dwelling. Housing, Theory and Society, 28(1), 75-91.
• Flint J (2010) Faith and Housing in England: Promoting Community Cohesion or Contributing to Urban Segregation?. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 36(2), 257-274.
• Powell R & Flint J (2009) (In)formalization and the Civilizing Process: Applying the Work of Norbert Elias to Housing‐Based Anti‐Social Behaviour Interventions in the UK. Housing, Theory and Society, 26(3), 159-178.
• Flint J (2009) Migrant information packs and the colonisation of civility in the UK. Space and Polity, 13(2), 127-140.
• Flint J & Pawson H (2009) Social landlords and the regulation of conduct in urban spaces in the United Kingdom. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 9(4), 415-435.
• Flint J (2009) Cultures, Ghettos and Camps: Sites of Exception and Antagonism in the City. Housing Studies, 24(4), 417-431.
• Crawford A & Flint J (2009) Urban safety, anti-social behaviour and the night-time economy. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 9(4), 403-413.
• Flint J (2007) Faith schools, multiculturalism and community cohesion: Muslim and Roman Catholic state schools in England and Scotland. Policy and Politics, 35(2), 251-268.
• Flint J (2007) 'Britain's 'civilising' project: community cohesion and core values' [35 : 2 April 2007] - In response to Jon Burnett. Policy and Politics, 35(3), 568-569.
• Flint J (2006) Stratégies d'empowerment et lutte contre les comportements. Géographie, économie, société, 8(1), 17-36.
• Flint J & Kearns A (2006) Housing, neighbourhood renewal and social capital: The case of registered social landlords in Scotland. European Journal of Housing Policy, 6(1), 31-54.
• Flint J (2006) Maintaining an arm's length? Housing, community governance and the management of 'problematic' populations. Housing Studies, 21(2), 171-186.
• Flint J & Nixon J (2006) Governing neighbours: Anti-social behaviour orders and new forms of regulating conduct in the UK. Urban Studies, 43(5-6), 939-955.
• Atkinson R, Blandy S, Flint J & Lister D (2005) Gated cities of today? Barricaded residential development in England. Town Planning Review, 76(4), 401-422.
• Flint J (2004) The responsible tenant: housing governance and the politics of behaviour. Housing Studies, 19(6), 893-909.
• Atkinson R & Flint J (2004) Fortress UK? Gated communities, the spatial revolt of the elites and time–space trajectories of segregation. Housing Studies, 19(6), 875-892.
• Flint J (2004) Reconfiguring agency and responsibility in the governance of social housing in Scotland. Urban Studies, 41(1), 151-173.
• Atkinson R & Flint J (2004) Order born of chaos? The capacity for informal social control in disempowered and 'disorganised' neighbourhoods. Policy and Politics, 32(3), 333-350.
• Flint J & Rowlands R (2003) Commodification, normalisation and intervention: Cultural, social and symbolic capital in housing consumption and governance. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 18(3), 213-232.
• Flint J (2003) Housing and ethopolitics: constructing identities of active consumption and responsible community. Economy and Society, 32(4), 611-629.
• Flint J (2002) Return of the Governors: Citizenship and the New Governance of Neighbourhood Disorder in the UK. Citizenship Studies, 6(3), 245-264.
• Flint J (2002) Social Housing Agencies and the Governance of Anti-social Behaviour. Housing Studies, 17(4), 619-637.
• Raco M & Flint J (2001) Communities, places and institutional relations: assessing the role of area-based community representation in local governance. Political Geography, 20(5), 585-612.

View full list of publications