Personal Statement
I am the Discipline Lead for Planning and a Senior Lecturer in European Spatial Planning at the University of Liverpool. My research and teaching focus primarily on the international and comparative dimensions of urban and territorial planning and related fields of urban and regional policy. My PhD thesis (Liverpool, 2004) examined the application of the European Spatial Development Perspective in selected planning systems in the EU.

I am Editor in Chief of Transactions of the Association of European Schools of Planning, Viewpoints editor of Town Planning Review, and an editorial board member of Urban, Planning and Transport Research. 

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Research Overview
My research focuses on urban and territorial planning systems and related fields of urban and regional policy. My research often adopts an international and comparative perspective and has included work on EU Cohesion Policy and regional policy in European states, urban regeneration, heritage and cultural planning, city regional governance, planning education, and the response of planners and planning systems to the global agenda for planning constituted by the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and New Urban Agenda.

My book with David Shaw and Brian Webb International Planning Studies was published in 2023. A summary of the book's contents and main arguments can be found here.

In February 2024 my new book Planning in a Failing State - Reforming Spatial Governance in England co-edited with Professor John Sturzaker (University of Hertdfordshire) was published. A summary of some of the book's contents and main arguments can be found here.