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Transportation and Integration: Challenges for Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Bristol

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by Reem Elnady

Transportation is a cornerstone of integration for asylum seekers and refugees, serving as a vital link to education, healthcare, employment, and social connections. It fosters a sense of belonging and enables individuals to participate fully in their host communities. However, in Bristol, the cost and accessibility of transportation pose significant challenges for many asylum seekers and refugees, hindering their ability to rebuild their lives and integrate effectively.

During my research on the integration of Muslim women refugees in Bristol, I identified mobility and accessibility as critical barriers. Many asylum seekers and refugees face difficulties navigating the city due to limited transportation options and the high cost of bus fares. These challenges disproportionately impact women, who often carry caregiving responsibilities and depend heavily on public transportation to fulfil their daily needs.

A particularly pressing issue is the lack of support for asylum seekers housed in temporary accommodations such as hotels. For instance, individuals are not eligible for free bus tickets if the distance between two stops is less than three miles, regardless of health or mobility constraints. This policy effectively prevents many from attending language classes and acquiring the skills necessary for integration. Without adequate transportation, these individuals remain isolated, unable to access essential services or seize opportunities for personal and professional growth.

The financial burden of transportation is a recurring theme among asylum seekers and refugees. A mother receiving limited benefits shared her struggle: “We stay at home because if we go out, we pay a lot, and we don’t have the money.” This stark reality underscores how even modest transportation costs can immobilize families living on constrained budgets, leaving them with few opportunities to break free from their isolation.

The challenges become even more acute for women with caregiving responsibilities. One mother of five, relocated by the Home Office to a larger house to accommodate her family, faced significant difficulties despite the improved living space. Her disabled daughter’s school was an hour-long bus ride away, requiring the mother to leave home at 6 a.m. and return at 6 p.m. each day. With minimal benefits and no financial assistance for transportation, she had to cover the bus fare herself, exacerbating the financial strain on an already challenging situation.

A Call to Action: Free Bus Tickets for Asylum Seekers and Refugees

These stories reveal how transportation, rather than being a bridge to integration, often becomes a barrier for asylum seekers and refugees in Bristol. The cost and inaccessibility of public transportation limits their ability to engage in community life, access essential services, and build meaningful connections. Women, as primary caregivers, face unique challenges navigating the city while balancing their roles as caretakers and active community members.

To uphold Bristol’s reputation as a City of Sanctuary, it is imperative to address these transportation barriers. Providing free bus tickets for asylum seekers and refugees is not merely a practical measure—it is a moral obligation. Affordable and accessible transportation is a foundational step toward integration, enabling individuals to learn, work, and contribute to their host communities.

The Bristol City of Sanctuary Transport Fund serves as a vital example of community-led efforts to tackle this challenge. This initiative provides much-needed funding for transport, ensuring that people seeking sanctuary in Bristol can access essential services and appointments. However, more support and expanded measures, such as free bus tickets, are necessary to fully address the pervasive barriers faced by asylum seekers and refugees in navigating the city.

By removing these barriers, Bristol can truly embody the values of inclusivity and sanctuary it seeks to uphold. Transportation is not just about mobility—it is a key to integration and opportunity. Now is the time to act and ensure that our city remains a welcoming and supportive haven for all.

Image credits: Reem Elnady, Doctoral Researcher- UWE Bristol

Walking interviews as a research method

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By Yarden Woolf

Literature tells us a walking interview is when a researcher walks alongside a participant during an interview (Kinney, 2017). This process usually involve a researcher accompanying participants and speaking with them, usually on foot and in a specific location (Kinney, 2017). Specifically, walking interviews have been used as a method to explore experience (Braun and Clarke, 2013), as they can produce rich data by allowing participants to be in the environment being discussed (Evans and Jones, 2011).

I first used this method during my MSc in Urban Design and City Planning at UCL. There, I walked with participants along the Regent’s Canal in London, to understand how they experience it, and how this relates to the canal’s design. As part of this study, I walked with canal-users from Granary Square to Camden Market, asking them questions about their activities, perceptions and emotions while walking and cycling along the canal. Through this, I discovered how different participants experience the canal, and which of its spatial attributes (e.g., paths, vegetation, location, access, outdoor furniture) affects their experiences and how. I am currently in the process of co-authoring a paper to publish these results. Figure 1 was taken during one of the walking interviews in the Regent’s Canal.

Figure 1 – Regent’s Canal in London (2017)

These days, I am in my third year of a PhD research at UWE Bristol, and my study explores the relationship between students’ experience in greenspace, nature connectedness and pro-environmental orientation. I am looking at university students from both UWE and the University of Bristol, and utilising semi-structured walking interviews as one of my data collection methods. As shown by previous studies, this method is particularly beneficial for examining the relationship between experience in greenspace and physical attributes of the greenspace (Veitch et al., 2020). The use of walking interviews in social research has been increasing, particularly to explore the connection between self and place (Heijnen, Stewart and Espiner, 2022; Kinney, 2017).

During one of these interviews, I walked with a participant in St. James Park in the city centre. As we were walking around, the participant explained he suffers from anxiety and whenever he needs to, he visits this park, sits on a bench, and writes in his journal. He further described how looking at the light shining through the trees and hearing birdsong allows him to relax, and that he always feels calmer when leaving this part than when he walked in. Figure 2 depicts the views this participant mentioned as helping him relax.

Figure 2 – St. James Park (2024)

In another walking interview, I walked around UWE’s Community Garden (figure 3) with a participant who spoke about the key role this greenspace plays in providing him with an escape from lectures and assignments. This emphasises students’ need for accessible greenspaces on campus. This participant also mentioned seasonality, and how he enjoyed seeing this greenspace transform through the seasons, watching vegetation grow and change colours, and listening to birds who frequent this space.

Figure 3 – UWE Community Garden (2024)

As I reflect on these walking interviews and the data collected, I remember what it is that made me chose this method. First, engaging in conversation while walking creates an informal atmosphere, particularly when interviews are participant-led (e.g., participants choose the greenspace and route). Second, exploring the greenspaces with participants enabled me, the researcher, to better understand their emotional and perceptual experiences. Third, being at the greenspaces evoked memories in participants, reminding them of experiences they may have not recollected through other form of interview (such as pictures).

I would like to end with Wordsworth’s poem, which to me encapsulates what walking in nature is:

‘Sweet was the walk along the narrow lane
At noon, the bank and hedge-rows all the way
Shagged with wild pale green tufts of fragrant hay,
Caught by the hawthorns from the loaded wain,
Which Age with many a slow stoop strove to gain;
And childhood, seeming still most busy, took
His little rake; with cunning side-long look,
Sauntering to pluck the strawberries wild, unseen.
Now, too, on melancholy’s idle dreams
Musing, the lone spot with my soul agrees,
Quiet and dark; for through the thick wove trees
Scarce peeps the curious star till solemn gleams
The clouded moon, and calls me forth to stray
Thro’ tall, green, silent woods and ruins gray’

Yarden Woolf is a fully funded PhD researcher at UWE Bristol, landscape architect and urban planner. If you have any questions, feel free to email yarden.woolf@uwe.ac.uk

References cited in this blog:

Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2013) Successful qualitative research: a practical guide for beginners. Los Angeles: SAGE.

Evans, J. and Jones, P. (2011) The walking interview: Methodology, mobility and place. Applied Geography [online]. 31 (2), pp. 849–858.

Heijnen, I., Stewart, E. and Espiner, S. (2022) On the move: the theory and practice of the walking interview method in outdoor education research. Annals of Leisure Research [online]. 25 (4), pp. 529–547.

Kinney, P. (2017) social research Update – Walking Interviews [online]. Available from: https://grandmas-story.eu/media/com_form2content/documents/c3/a203/f38/SRU67.pdf.

Veitch, J., Flowers, E., Ball, K., Deforche, B. and Timperio, A. (2020) Exploring Children’s Views on Important Park Features: A Qualitative Study Using Walk-Along Interviews. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health [online]. 17 (13), p. 4625.

Some reflections on learning on the job …

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by Hannah Hickman

I teach a module on our postgraduate distance learning course – Planning and Urban Leadership – called “Managing Strategic Growth”.  It is framed around encouraging students to think at scale, and critically evaluate the role of planners and planning in growth management, with a focus on population, household and economic growth and the resultant demand for more homes. At its heart it’s about just that, growth.

I inherited this module from an excellent former colleague, and over time I have re-oriented and shaped the module in response to some of the more recent developments in policy and practice.  However, full disclosure, over the Summer I reflected that I hadn’t previously encouraged students to do enough critical engagement with the concept of growth. I’m not saying we didn’t do any but perhaps an acceptance of the growth orthodoxy in planning was subliminal, somehow inadvertently built-in to the module’s design.

What prompted this reflection? I’m not sure I can pinpoint a precise moment, but I was immediately irked by the repeated statements that emerged very quickly from the incoming Labour Government, that put planning and growth facilitation, particularly economic growth, front and centre of its reform agenda. This is just one example of many:

“The Government has made clear that sustained economic growth is the only route to improving the prosperity of our country and the living standards of working people … Nowhere is decisive reform needed more urgently than in our planning system”[1].

Ascribing this role to planning is of course, neither new, nor a surprise. Many planning scholars have written engagingly about the growth fixation “inscribed in planning instruments” and “the often‐unquestioned growth bias in spatial planning that is institutionalized at all scales of land‐use planning”[2].

However, the disappointment I felt at the lack of wider narratives emerging from the new Government about both planning and growth, led me to both re-engage with some of the important existing scholarship in this area, but also to read some recent literature for the first time. In short, in preparing for this module, I went down an utterly engaging rabbit hole. Amongst other things:

  • I read the excellent piece by Jin Zue on de-growth, challenging ‘smart-growth’ (the apparently false win-win scenario to support growth), and encouraging “subversion of planning’s commitment to growth … and resuscitation of utopianism” [3], anddipped into Savini’s volume on Cities beyond the market economy [4];
  • I looked beyond planning, to see what scholars in politics and public policy have been saying. In short, questioning the economic growth paradigm is happening across disciplines[5];
  • I listened to the economist, Kate Raworth, talk engagingly about her book ‘doughnut economics’, in which she questions whether governments “are right to think that the solution to their economic problems lies in more growth” [6]; and 
  • I explored the many and various ways of measuring growth that go beyond GDP, and here I would give a massive shout out to UCL’s citizen prosperity index [7].

I also did a very cursory piece of research to look at the national planning policy statements of the UK’s devolved nations, and I was surprised at what I found. Scotland’s National Planning Framework 4, makes 104 references to growth, although in many and varied ways, including  ‘compact growth’,‘green growth, ‘greener growth’, and ‘inclusive growth’.  Future Wales: The National Plan 2040, containsa whopping 296 references to growth, including ‘sustainable growth’, ‘inclusive growth’, ‘nationally important growth’, ‘clean growth’, ‘green growth’, and ‘inclusive growth’. The Strategic Planning Policy Statement for Northern Irelandhas 42 references to growth, but with an overwhelming focus on economic growth. The idea of growth – in all sorts of guises – is the undoubtedly orthodoxy in these statements, paralleling the English narrative.

So, what did I do when I climbed back out of the rabbit hole? Well, initially at least I’ve shared a few observations (for what they are worth!) with the Planning and Urban Leadership students and asked them to think about where they sit on the pro-growth, de-growth axis, and to reflect upon what role they think planning (and planners) should take in this.

But why have I decided to write about this here, albeit very briefly? There were two motivators. The first, was to highlight the value of ‘learning on the job’ (as well as the privilege of being able to do so) and the fundamental importance of ensuring that as educators we are striving, as far as is possible, to keep up-to-date (accepting – by the way – that this is almost impossible in such a fast moving area of policy and practice!). Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, is the need to continue to encourage critical thinking in our students. In sharing my insights, I have not said that they should be anti-growth, or that there isn’t an inter-relationship between planning and growth that needs to be understood, but I have encouraged them not to accept things just as they are. This now feels like an omission in my previous teaching on this module.

Finally, and another shout-out, this time to the international student who spontaneously shared (today!) that their favourite part of the Managing Strategic Growth module so far had been the lecture and wider reading on ‘challenging the growth orthodoxy in planning’. That was enough to post-hoc justify the rabbit hole down which I went!

Featured image credit: https://www.growthforce.com/blog/5-stages-business-growth

[1] Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government (2024). Proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes to the planning system https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/proposed-reforms-to-the-national-planning-policy-framework-and-other-changes-to-the-planning-system

[2] Lamker, C. and Terfrüchte, T., (2024). Post-growth ambitions and growth-based realities in sustainable land-use planning. Urban Planning, 9, 1-16.

[3] Xue, J (2022). Urban planning and degrowth: a missing dialogue, Local Environment, 27 (4), 404-422.

[4] Savini, F., Ferreira, A. and von Schönfeld, K. eds., (2022). Post-growth planning: Cities beyond the market economy. Routledge.

[5] Warner, S., Newman, J., Diamond, P. and Richards, D., (2024). The challenge of devolved English governance and the rise of political spatial inequality. Parliamentary affairs, 77 (4) 735-764.

[6] Raworth, T. (2018). A healthy economy should be designed to thrive, not grow. https://www.ted.com/talks/kate_raworth_a_healthy_economy_should_be_designed_to_thrive_not_grow/transcript?subtitle=en

[7] UCL Institute for Global Prosperity. (2024). The Citizen Prosperity Index. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/igp/research/citizen-prosperity-index

Spark the Future

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by Elahe Karimnia

The vision for rejuvenating high streets through meanwhile projects—temporary use of vacant spaces—is gaining momentum. This approach is capturing the interest of local authorities, property owners, and developers as it offers a response to contemporary crises. While neoliberal strategies have often driven temporary uses of space, post-pandemic Europe has come to recognise the value of grassroots initiatives in reclaiming space for community purposes. Temporariness should not be seen as a short-term solution, but rather as a window of opportunity, capable of disrupting conventional urban design and development processes related to property ownership and land use. Critical temporary practices hold the potential to challenge the notion of vacancy and the (re)production of uneven conditions of development – outcomes of capitalist spatial relations. These practices create opportunities for more equitable access to properties, innovative governance structures, and diverse financial models. However, challenges, and dynamics within such ‘meanwhile’ warrant further exploration.

Figure 1Sparks shopfront on The Horsefair. Credit: Elahe Karimnia

Sparks Bristol stands as an exemplar, showcasing an equitable future that transcends conventional retail and consumption models in city centres. Launched in 2023 through a partnership between Artspace Lifespace and the Global Goals Centre, facilitated by Bristol City Council (BCC), Sparks repurposed a former Marks and Spencer building in Bristol’s city centre. By creating a different department store in which sustainability is addressed via education, arts and culture, Sparks has pushed the boundaries of traditional retail, reusing large vacant properties like department stores, whose emptiness can detract from the vitality of high streets and the collective memory of communities.  Due to its success, Sparks has received an extension and will continue until December 2025.

Figure 2 Sparks’ Department of Nature. Credit: Elahe Karimnia

Alongside my colleague from the School of Arts, I joined the project as a critical friend and contributed to the writing of an interim evaluation report. Drawing from my previous research on spaces and infrastructures for cultural production, and other meanwhile projects such as The Space, and Coco Velten, I recognised that a major challenge for such projects is the lack of time and resources to capture and document the knowledge that emerges throughout their processes.

As finances and governance in these projects tend to evolve over time, it is important to assess their success based on their capacity for agility and adaptation, rather than rigid goals. Within our constraints, the interim evaluation report highlights how Sparks has fostered an alternative vision for the city centre, integrating sustainability, creativity, and circular economy principles—elements that are crucial for future urban design and development.

The report positions Sparks as a creative urban experiment. The project provides an innovative response to the complex challenges of high street revitalisation, especially in the context of austerity and shifting retail patterns. It also demonstrates an ethical model of practice, where partnership with local organisations and communities are pivotal. It also showcases the potential for community-oriented events through which inclusive spaces and encounters emerge.

The report underscores the key attributes of Sparks, including:

  • Reshaping high streets through innovative vision: integrating education, arts, and culture into traditional retail spaces, with sustainability at the core.
  • Robust partnerships and a versatile financial model.
  • Art-led spatial adaptation, promoting accessible art and culture.
  • Engaging local communities, particularly marginalised groups, to foster inclusivity.
  • Open communication with stakeholders and building a community of practice with local partners.
  • Balancing public and private events, ensuring both community engagement and operational sustainability.

However, like many temporary cultural and community spaces, Sparks faces significant challenges particularly regarding financial stability. While funding support exists, maintaining a sustainable financial model proves difficult, especially without formal recognition of the financial benefits these projects bring to landlords, such as preventing rapid building decline. Additionally, future uncertainty—of what comes next after the temporary phase ends—can strain relationships with local and created communities.  Unforeseen building issues and required repairs may also add to project costs, exacerbating financial concerns.

Given Artspace Lifespace’s long-standing contribution to Bristol’s cultural scene, Sparks has sparked ongoing dialogues with local authorities about leveraging vacant properties for community benefit. The project also highlights the broader issue of inadequate planning guidance and support for meanwhile projects.

The report was co-authored with Dr. Tarek Virani and funded by the University of the West of England’s College-Building Fund. We extend our gratitude to Jenny Foster (Global Goals Centre) and Kathryn Chiswell-Jones (Artspace Lifespace), along with all contributors acknowledged in the report. The full report is available here.

For more information on the potential of temporary urban practices, please contact me at elahe.karimnia@uwe.ac.uk

SPE is hosting a major international conference in June 2025 

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by Robin Hambleton and Danielle Sinnett 

It’s exciting to be able to announce that our Centre will be hosting a major international conference on ‘Creating healthy and sustainable cities’ here in Bristol on 10-13th June 2025. 

Now is the time to submit your proposals if you would like to participate in this forward-looking international conference.  The conference aims to attract over 300 scholars from more than 30 countries, and we hope very much that it will stimulate a wide range of fruitful conversations on how to improve the quality of life in cities. 

The background 

During this last six months or so a small team of the Sustainable Planning and Environment Centre (SPE) researchers has been working closely with colleagues in the European Urban Research Association (EURA) to develop the agenda for this international conference.   

UWE played a critical role in creating EURA in the 1990s.  Ever since it was launched, in Brussels in 1997, the association has sought to encourage international exchange and cooperation in relation to urban and environmental studies.   

EURA conferences are interdisciplinary, stimulating and, also, very friendly!   

Apart from organising successful international conferences and workshops EURA runs a highly respected international journal – Urban Research and Practice – and provides a website that enables scholars to share ideas in an ongoing and active EURA Conversations series about the future of cities.  Click here for more information on EURA: EURA – European Urban Research Association

The EURA 2025 International Conference in Bristol 

The purpose of the 2025 conference is not just to advance understanding of how to create healthy and sustainable settlements in the UK, but also to contribute to international thinking relating to city planning, environmental innovation and local democracy. 

The aims of this conference are, then, closely aligned with the core aims of SPE.  By bringing together a large and diverse international group of scholars the conference should be able to advance international understanding of how to create places that are environmentally healthy, resilient and sustainable, in the context of the ecological and climate emergencies.

The EURA 2025 Conference website has just been launched and proposals are welcomed by 31st October 2024. 

More details 

This international conference will take place in Bristol City Hall in the heart of the city on 10-13th June 2025.   

Nine tracks have been created to guide the academic exchanges that will take place next June:

1. Creating healthy and liveable places

2. Regenerating the city

3. Smart city governance driving green and digital transitions

4. Regulating the city: planning and beyond

5. Enhancing democratic governance in changing cities

6. Strategic thinking for city futures: looking beyond city boundaries

7. Inclusive futures and spatial practices

8. Designing accessible cities: towards low-carbon and inclusive mobility futures

9. Greening the city

In addition to the academic discussions that will take place during these tracks, there will be contributions from high profile keynote speakers and an afternoon of mobile workshops.

These mobile workshops (or study tours) will enable participants to meet civic actors in different locations within Bristol who are trying to help Bristol become a healthy and sustainable city.  These grounded discussions with practitioners will form a very important part of this conference.

Ways of participating 

If the issues set out above interest you, please consider submitting a proposal to the EURA 2025 website.  The call invites participants to submit abstracts and/or to submit proposals for pre-organised panels or conversations. 

This is a chance to express our sincere thanks to the many colleagues within SPE, and beyond, who developed the successful bid to EURA to host the 2025 international conference here in Bristol.  Special thanks are due to colleagues who have agreed to co-chair the various tracks and to those who have agreed to lead the various mobile workshops.  Thank you! 

If you would like to find out more about this international conference, click here: EURA 2025: Creating healthy and sustainable cities, Bristol, UK, 10-13 June 2025.

Robin Hambleton is Emeritus Professor of City Leadership in the Centre. Danielle Sinnett is Professor in Sustainable Built Environments and Director of the Centre for Sustainable Planning and Environments.   

Ecotourism in the Egyptian Red Sea Parks: Challenges & Solutions

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by Amir Gohar

Following the 1979 peace treaty and the return of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in 1982, the country began focusing on its environmental assets, including national parks. Egypt’s national parks cover diverse environments, from mountains, deserts, and oasis to coastal and urban areas. Law 102 of 1983 authorizes the Prime Minister to designate areas as national parks, defining their boundaries and management principles. To date, 24 national parks have been established under this law.

The Red Sea parks are a unique, underutilized resource. However, tourism development has constantly threatened their fragile ecosystems. Despite initiatives to minimize these impacts, development patterns remain largely unchanged, and knowledge of proper landscape planning remained within limited number of professionals.

CHALLENGES OF CURRENT STRATEGIES

Ecotourism and national parks share a complex relationship. Balancing development and conservation is a contentious issue. Ecotourism is often seen as a way to ensure parks’ economic sustainability, but it carries significant risks, particularly in the case of the Red Sea.

1. Technical Challenges

(i)  Understanding of Ecotourism: Ecotourism is often misunderstood, with numerous definitions muddying its purpose. The International Ecotourism Society defines it as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of local people, and involves interpretation and education”. In Egypt, this concept is not fully realised in park development, leading many projects to self-identify as “ecotourism” without meeting true environmental protection standards. Wadi El-Gimal National Park illustrates the need for better local understanding and institutional frameworks to develop eco-lodges.

Example of mangrove spread around the coastal stretch of Al-Qul’an Bay within Wadi El-Gimal National Park (Photo by Gohar)

(ii) Planning the Landscape: While experts in flora, fauna, geology, and marine environments contribute to park development, the spatial dimension remains underemphasized. Landscape planners, essential for designating protected areas and determining development intensity, are often absent from these processes.

(iii) Designing for Ecotourism (Eco-lodges): Egypt’s parks span diverse regions—mountains, oases, coastal plains—each with unique communities and building styles suited to local cultural and ecological contexts. However, most eco-lodge designs are either inspired by Nile Valley architecture or imported from countries with ecotourism traditions, neglecting Egypt’s diverse environmental needs.

2. Institutional Challenges

(i) Lack of Coordination between authorities: National parks fall under environmental authorities, while tourism projects are managed separately by tourism authorities. The lack of coordination between central and local governments hampers integrated planning and development solutions.

(ii) Insufficient Stakeholder Consultation: Local communities are rarely consulted on park plans, while developers often lack awareness of the local context, leading to issues like gentrification, relocation of communities, and negative impacts on livelihoods. Developers also risk building in ecologically sensitive areas, such as floodplains or mangrove zones.

(iii) Climate Change and Ecological Dynamism: Current shoreline regulations do not consider risks from sea-level rise or habitat changes, such as turtle nesting sites or mangrove zones.

(iv) Urban Expansion:
Increasing land values near cities have led to urban encroachment on parklands. Environmental authorities often allocate parkland for ecotourism projects to generate revenue, but the competition between land uses undermines conservation efforts.

SOLUTIONS & THE ROLE OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS

Fieldwork in Egyptian national parks suggests that ecotourism can be part of the solution if the following recommendations are adopted:

1. Understanding the concept of ecolodge beyond architecture: Ecolodges often focuses on architectural aesthetics, which is too limited. Egypt’s parks encompass diverse social structures, including nomadic communities, and require localized parameters that go beyond vague recommendations like “using local materials”. These parameters should be integrated into environmental laws rather than optional guidelines.

2. Consult local community: Consulting local communities provides invaluable insights, such as historical knowledge of floods, wind patterns, and migratory paths of fauna. Public participation should be extensive, involving nomadic communities in the planning process and establishing communication channels between developers and local residents.

3. Role of landscape planners: Landscape planners are essential in integrating ecological and social aspects into park management. Their involvement can minimize resource conflicts and ensure that tourism development supports ecosystem sustainability. For example, in the Red Sea parks, landscape planners help preserve the roles of acacia and mangrove trees, vital to the ecosystem.

4. Land suitability mapping: Land suitability maps identify areas for protection and those less suited for development. This helps avoid placing tourism developments in vulnerable zones like floodplains.

Example of a dedicated tourism developer who placed the permanent structure out of the floodplain and salt marshes, which is not a common practice in the region (Photo by Gohar)

5. Prioritize parklands over real estate development: Parklands should not be forced to compete with real estate for value. Urban expansion should respect park boundaries, particularly in cities like Cairo, where space is limited.

National parks are crucial to Egypt’s environmental heritage, but they are under threat from urbanisation and unchecked tourism development. Involving landscape planners early in the decision making and development process can help protect these parks, minimise conflicts, and resolve ongoing challenges. Collaboration between local communities, developers, and planners is essential to ensure that ecotourism supports the environment rather than harms these delicate ecosystems.

Featured image credits: Mangrove patches looking towards Wadi El-Gimal Island (Photo by Gohar).

Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects – the value in understanding implementation

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by Hannah Hickman

‘There is very little pre-existing research on project implementation and the impact that a planning consent has on this stage. Our research fills an important knowledge gap and is not only of significance to the planning profession, but to those in Government currently focused on the infrastructure planning reform process, and to project promoters and their consenting and delivery teams’.1

Described as ‘the most far-reaching legislation of its kind since 1947’2, the 2008 Planning Act in England introduced a new system for the consenting of infrastructure projects deemed in the national interest – nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPS). At the time of its inception, this legislation was seen as a ‘genuine revolution’3 in the handling of consents for large scale infrastructure developments.

The so called ‘revolutionary’ aspects of the new system included: the removal of infrastructure projects over a certain threshold from local authority decision making, with decisions taken following prescribed timescales by ministers of central government following the advice of independent inspectors; the combination of most – although not all – consents, including planning permission and compulsory purchase acquisition powers into one document to enable development to proceed, known as a Development Consent Order (DCO); and, critically, the expression of need for development in sector specific National Policy Statements, such that debate about the need for infrastructure takes place during parliamentary scrutiny of NPS preparation rather than on a project basis at examination.

Certainty and speed of decision were the defining logics of the new system and there is evidence to suggest that speed of decision making has been a positive outcome of the new system for many projects. However, speed and certainty of decision making, do not necessarily result in a faster or easier delivery process (presumably the ultimate intent of the new system …) or do they?

In 2023, the National Infrastructure Planning Association published research commissioned from UWE and the University of Sheffield to explore the relationship between consent and delivery – the journey from consent, construction and through to ongoing operation – framed by the question, ‘how can the Development Consent Order process be strengthened to better support the delivery of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects‘?

This research specifically focused on practitioner’s experiences of this post-consent delivery phase and involved detailed survey work, six in-depth case studies, and discussion with a wide range of bodies engaged in the NSIP process, including statutory environmental bodies and local authorities.

Hornsea II Wind Farm (Courtesy of Ørsted)

As a research team, it was fantastic to have the opportunity to talk to such a wide- range of professionals involved in the delivery of major infrastructure projects, from those in construction project management and contracting, to lawyers, environmental specialists, and of planners across both the public and private sectors. This experience left two lasting impressions on the team. Firstly, and maybe self-evident to those in the industry, the delivery of major infrastructure projects is a truly cross-sectoral endeavour. Those projects with a relatively smooth delivery phase demonstrated a clear commitment by all those involved, to understand the remit, constraints, and perspective of all the disciplines involved. Secondly, understanding the effectiveness of planning (a consent as granted) demands the insights derived from delivery: it materially effects not just the ultimate design of projects, but the delivery phase as well.

Key recommendations from the project included:

i. The importance of continuing to extend the opportunities for disseminating, sharing and reflecting on the experience of project delivery and implementation – this has been an overlooked area of practice;

ii. The need to ensure that any further reforms to the DCO process that focus on speed of decision making do not pass on problems to the delivery and implementation stage – speed of consent does not necessarily result in a smoother delivery phase;

iii. The need for a review of the further consents and licences required post consent – most infrastructure projects still require a number of additional consents before delivery can commence, causing uncertainty and delay;

iv. to consider a more supportive approach to post consent change management – the DCO post-consent change process is highly constrained and is both time-consuming and expensive;

v. The need for significant ongoing support for local authority and statutory body engagement in delivery and operation as well as examination – these organisations play significant roles at delivery yet face considerable resources constraints in doing so effectively;

vi. The need for greater consistency at project examination stage in how flexibility within consents can be justified and achieved – lack of flexibility to vary a scheme’s design, or deploy alternative construction methods, post-consent can cause delivery challenges; and

vii. The value in capacity building – across professions – to support delivery.

The project report, and detailed case studies, are available from:

https://nipa-uk.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/NIPA_Hindsights_Final_Report.05.07.2023.pdf

NIPA Insights III Supplementary Report (Case Studies) (05.07.23) (nipa-uk.org)

  1. https://www.rtpi.org.uk/policy-and-research/research/planning-research-matters/infrastructure-planning/practitioner-s-experiences-of-development-consent-order-implementation/ ↩︎
  2. http://www.theguardian.com/society/2009/jul/15/quango-fast-tracks-controversial-projects ↩︎
  3. https://www.jplc.org/files/pdf/attaining%20the%20age%20of%20consents.pdf ↩︎

Feature image: Tilbury2 in construction (Courtesy of Tilbury Port)

Designing for Health: Healthy Streetlife

Author Centre for Sustainable Planning and Environments | Posted on

by Mark Drane (LinkedIn; Instagram)

Reflections on a part-time PhD undertaken alongside healthy urbanism practice and during a global pandemic.

…the street remains a social space like no other.  Even in the context of divided and segregated cities, gated communities and ‘privatopias’, streets continue to provide spaces for public congregation, encounter and community making (Hubbard and Lyon, 2018).

Two things you should know about me when reading this are that since childhood I somehow knew that I wanted to be an architect and the second thing is that my parents told me I always told the truth even when it would get me into trouble as a child.

Twenty years after becoming an architect a difficult truth I have learned about architecture is that when it comes to health we are often causing harm and failing to create the conditions to support good health.

I didn’t get into architecture to contribute to such harm.  Yet, as I stood in front of the burned structure of Grenfell Tower I found myself reflecting on my role in a wider system where this tragedy could be a terrible but logical outcome.

It is sometimes claimed that designers and built environment practitioners are creating healthy places or that designers need a Hippocratic oath.  What I came to realise was that my own training and understanding of human health (intrinsically linked to planetary health) was severely lacking.  Despite two degrees, a professional diploma, and 20 years’ experience in professional practice I lacked the skills and knowledge to address this topic.  I don’t think I’m unusual: it’s a systemic problem.

This raised the question: if I couldn’t evidence I was contributing to health how could I know that the opposite – creating harm – wasn’t true?  Maybe it was jumping in at the deep end but in 2016 the answer seemed like a self-funded, part-time PhD, alongside practice was a way to address this question.

 Legall Street, Architectural drawings

So why streets?  Well streets are identified by UN Habitat as the most prevalent public space globally.  In many places they have become viewed as means to get from A to B, in fact they are vital social and public spaces right outside our front door and potentially – was my interest – a resource for health and wellbeing.

Nearly everyone in the world lives on a street.  People have always lived on streets.  They have been the places where children first learned about the world, where neighbors met, the social centers of towns and cities, the rallying points for revolts, the scenes of repression (Donald Appleyard, 1981).

Streets are designed and created by many different actors so are immediately interdisciplinary.  They are the smallest scale of public space outside of the more private space of the home.  They are arguably an easier scale for local authorities, designers, and others who control them to make changes.  What is less known is whether this is actually an effective scale at which to make changes and which ones we should be making.

Through undertaking a systematic review of the evidence I was able to demonstrate that yes the street scale does appear to have an impact on health independent of scales like the neighbourhood but the evidence base is quite small for example very focused on physical activity outcomes not things like mental health and social wellbeing.  First there was a need to know more about what matters to residents and how they use their streets so that’s where the study turned to next.

Within weeks of receiving my ethics approval in spring 2020 Welsh Government introduced national lockdowns in response to Covid-19 but a mixture timing and a flexible approach meant research was able to proceed.  I invested a lot of time in meeting people not like me – a white man with multifaceted privilege – and time spent doing this resulted in profoundly meaningful conversations with participants. 

Hester Street, Materiality photomontage

A key finding and argument of the research is that the street environment should be addressed as a health promoting setting.  I won’t recite the thesis findings here and it will be available online in due course.  Another key aspect is that what people do in their street – their health practices – really matter for health and wellbeing and unsurprisingly they are far more diverse (street bingo with prizes anyone?) than design guidance currently provides for.

“Lowly, unpurposeful, and random as they may appear, sidewalk contacts are the small change from which a city’s wealth of public life may grow” (Jane Jacobs, 1962).

Holford Street, Field sketch

A significant aim of undertaking a PhD was to influence policy, practice, and future research – not least the closer integration of these three.  Three headline recommendations are:

Closer integration of policy, practice, and research.

Policy, practice, and research should be integrated far more closely.  Yes they are different yet divisions between them these get in the way of actually shifting the dial on the problems we might hope to address.  The last eight years for me have been a test bed of precisely this: PhD research in the morning and working in my practice, Urban Habitats, in the afternoon.

Street smarts for practitioners.

Codes of practice and ethical codes for design practitioners increasingly incorporate duties for public benefit.  Engineers in the UK have one of the clearest: “Engineering professionals work to enhance the

wellbeing of society.”  What is needed is the guidance and definition that operationalises this intent.  Public health practitioners in the UK for example must work to reduce inequalities and also have a duty to “…protect and improve the health of populations… based on the best available evidence…”.  Crucially this includes a position toward evidence and its ethical use, something arguably lacking in design practice.

Inclusive streets:

Creating inclusive street environments is a priority for practice and policy.  My research identifies many groups who can be excluded from the street environment – and worryingly this is often just accepted as an immovable norm.  The street physical and social environment contributes to these norms.  Improving population health implicitly implies reducing health inequalities.  In this sense, streets either work for everyone or not at all.  A start would be to address inclusion, more meaningful would be supporting residents to create and change their streets, as they already do, through their everyday practices.

For me doing a PhD has enabled a change of career path and a way to address my personal and professional values in practice in a meaningful way.  The Centre for Sustainable Planning and Environments, my supervisory team, and UWE Bristol more widely has been an incredibly supportive and productive place for me to be based at for my PhD.

Clearly not every practitioner can have a PhD spanning health and urbanism.  There seems a need for integrative practice and practitioners which is where I see my own future.  I have ideas about new forms of practic/se that bring together research and practice in one dimension; different disciplines in another; and redefine the relationship between people with specific expertise and expert residents in local places.

What we must avoid the trap of making claims to create health and wellbeing without being able to reasonably justify such claims.  Supporting residents to create health in their streets is a good place to start.

References listed in this blog:

Appleyard, D. (1981) Livable Streets. Berkley: University of California Press. [Accessed 3 July 2018].

Hubbard, P. and Lyon, D. (2018) Introduction: Streetlife – the shifting sociologies of the street. The Sociological Review [online]. 66 (5), pp. 937–951. [Accessed 21 June 2022].

Jacobs, J. (1962) The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Reprint. London: The Bodley Head, 2020.

Welcome to our new SPE Research Centre Members

Author Centre for Sustainable Planning and Environments | Posted on

Welcome to our new SPE Research Centre Members who have joined UWE in the past year. We continue to grow as a research centre in capacity and outstanding research endeavours.

We are very pleased to welcome our new members as they take on and excel in their different roles.

Reem Elnady

I am a passionate and fully funded PhD researcher at the Centre for Sustainable Planning and Environment, having embarked on this academic journey in June. My focus lies in unravelling the diverse experiences of women refugees as they navigate host communities, with a particular emphasis on the dynamic context of Bristol city.

Before joining the Centre for Sustainable Planning and Environment, I was an urban researcher at the Egyptian Sustainable Urbanism Lab (ESU-LAB), delving into the intricacies of informal settlements, participatory approaches, and urban narratives in unplanned areas across the Middle East. My academic background includes a Master’s in Architecture from Egypt, where I honed my expertise in understanding and addressing the challenges faced by marginalized communities.

Reem Elnady

Owain Hanmer

I started as a Research Associate at SPE in August 2023. My research foundations are in the politics of urban agriculture/gardening and food, which gradually snowballed to encompass other related themes—community development, alternative forms of governance, and retirement/ageing. I am particularly interested in exploring the mundane practices of ‘commoning’—which involves critically engaging with the everyday practices that potentially exist despite or beyond neoliberal value-practices and framings.

I completed my PhD (funded by the ESRC) at Cardiff University where I focused on commoning amongst retired urban gardeners. I then worked on the project ‘Infuse’ (also Cardiff University), focusing on public sector innovation, experimental governance, and community development. I am really looking forward to developing these areas and working alongside colleagues at SPE to develop new projects.

Owain Hanmer

Sam Pinnock

I am a fully funded PhD student with the SPE, having joined in the Summer of 2023. My study is part funded by the Welsh Government and is focused on economic regeneration strategy in the South Wales Valleys with a particular focus on communities in proximity to disused coal tips. I am interested in the strategy formulation process and how stakeholder groups like local communities and government collaborate.

I have also recently completed a Master’s in Urban Planning at UWE where I wrote my dissertation on the concept of ‘Beauty’ in the current planning context of UK government planning guidance and how subjective terminology provides less certainty.

Sam Pinnock

Joy Pedro

I am currently a postgraduate student at the Centre for Sustainable Planning and Environment. My research aims to develop the knowledge that facilitates the co-designing of green spaces to improve use and mental health of young people in Abuja Nigeria. I have a bachelor’s degree in architecture and a master’s degree in Environment Design. I am also a certified project manager with Project Management Institute (PMI) with at least a decade industry experience in design, planning and project management. My research interests are around green infrastructure, smart cities, healthy places.

Joy Pedro

Swati Sood

I am presently a fully funded PhD researcher at the Centre for Sustainable Planning and Environment for Faculty of Environment and Technology. My study focuses on improving “End of life management for onshore wind turbine by employing circular economy principles.”

I acquired a master’s degree in building information modelling (BIM) with distinction from UWE, and my dissertation on the circular economy in the built environment was published in the UWE library repository. I worked as a construction specialist for urban design and constructed developments for more than a decade before earning my master’s degree. In addition, I hold a certification in interior design and worked on project management for different architecture and interior projects.

Swati Sood

Katy Karampour

I joined UWE in January 2023 as a lecturer in Urban Planning. Prior to joining UWE, I was a Research Associate in Planning and Housing at the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research, the Land Economy Department of University of Cambridge. I have a PhD in Urban Planning and an MSc in Urban Regeneration form the Bartlett School of Planning, UCL and an MA in Architecture with specialism in Urban Conservation from University of Tehran.

At UWE I’m a co-programme leader for our BSc Urban Planning programme. My teaching activities include PhD supervision, undergraduate and postgraduate dissertation supervision, and teaching modules from level 1 to postgraduate (M level). I am an experienced qualitative researcher interested in carrying out innovative research in relation to policy and practice, providing an evidence base for making positive changes to policy and process to achieve societal aims. Whilst at the University of Cambridge, I conducted policy-oriented research around housing and planning, developing an interest in how the planning system in the UK could adapt to the challenges of net zero transition. Recently I have completed an ESRC Impact project on the role of the planning system in delivering net zero new homes in the UK.

Katy Karampour

Aditya Ray

I joined UWE Bristol in January 2023 as Lecturer in Human Geography. My work explores the intersections between digitalisation, urbanisation, migration and sustainable development.

 My research, supported by different institutions, has looked at labour geographies of Information Technology-enabled services outsourcing. I have led an international research project documenting coping practices of apps-based platform drivers in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic in India. I am working with colleagues at the Open University on understanding gender and transnational mobility in Tech sectors in the UK and India. I am also forging collaborations with other partners on projects exploring digital platforms and automation, and their relationship with work, welfare and sustainability.

I have taught previously at Queen Mary University of London as Lecturer in Development Geography, and at the University of Sheffield as postgraduate supervisor in the Digital Media and Society programme. 

Aditya Ray

Jenna Dutton

I am an ambitious and passionate researcher and professional urban planner with over fourteen years of experience working in collaboration with and for academia and local governments. I started my PhD in January 2023 in the topic Gender inequality in cities: the role and potential of urban planning.  In my previous role as Senior Social Planner, I led various projects including those focused on climate and equity, childcare, and accessibility.

As an advocate for equity and inclusion in urbanism I contribute to global planning efforts as Co-chair of the Commonwealth Women in Planning Network and leading research on various topics including Feminist Planning and Urbanism. I was named one of The Planner Magazine’s Women of Influence 2023.

Jenna Dutton

Bringing Art Closer to Science: Re-designing and changing smart cities from a focus on digital and basic services to experience and liveability

Author Centre for Sustainable Planning and Environments | Posted on

by FateN Mostafa Hatem

The relationship between art and science is closer than we used to think especially in the context of the built environment. In my recent article “The role of art in smart cities research and making”, I explain how art could play an important role not only in shaping the experience of our cities but also in improving research activity and understanding of their affects, needs and relations.

This is necessary to produce new and vital knowledge instead of recycling same views in the literature and to do so we need new creative methods and ways of thinking. Therefore, it is important to bridge the gap between art and science. Such a change in basis for the making of smart cities has a higher potential to enable us to avoid mixed outcomes and contradictory results by providing more human-centred approaches to what smart could mean and do on the ground. By providing more creative research methods and approaches, the making of Smart is improved and in turn, the impact that cities have on residents is shaped to be that of stronger attachment, better attitude and more engaging atmosphere. I believe that the meaning of Smart and progress could be better enhanced to go beyond empty signifiers and labels to realise better results on the ground, especially in terms of the experience and liveability of the city. After all, we are all excited to unravel the mysteries of the relationship between humans and surrounding environments and to obtain insights into this, maybe we need to change our ways first.

A close up of a human; source: iStock.com/cosmin4000

Promoting art based methods and research is done throughout the paper with the intention of making the most out of rethinking innovation and knowledge production methods. Given the famous power of art in communication, references were made to engaging participants, reflecting on direct observation as well as the need for reflexive approaches in research on urban and built environment. Examples were presented in a from of comparative cases or observations to examine the positivist visions of Smart,  changes on the ground and progress direction, while revealing the impact on lost or gained attachment over time, the actual potential of offering a better-lived experience and the contradictory outcomes brought by certain changes, rationalities or thinking patterns.

A pixilated image VS. Atmospheric image of the city, free royalty adapted image

With the hope that this work inspires more networking and cooperation, it provides reflections on the importance of focusing on aspects and factors that impact what Smart Urbanism does and what it can achieve. This complies with the complex nature of cities in terms of tangible and intangible affects and performance rather than of a mere utilization of the notion in a worldwide trend towards becoming a smart city. The main motive behind such focus and promotion is to establish a new meaning for urban progress by moving beyond improving the basic services of the city to enhance the actual human experience, which is essential for the development of authentic smart cities.

You can find out more on the subject by reading my article, also available here https://link.growkudos.com/1eywmbg4xs0 and by visiting my website: Art Works | Faten Mostafa Hatem

The feature image of this blog is an original artwork by the researcher.

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