Email: portico-services@ucl.ac.uk
Help Desk: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ras/portico/helpdesk
- Associate Professor
- The Bartlett School of Planning
- Faculty of the Built Environment
I am Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) in Sustainable Development and Planning at The Bartlett School of Planning, University College London, UK. I hold degrees in public policy (PhD, LSE), housing (MSc, LSE), urbanism (MA, UAUIM) and architecture (BArch DipArch, UAUIM). Prior to joining the academia, I have worked as a qualified architect for 10 years in the UK, Italy and Romania.
Unique researcher ID (ORCID): 0000-0003-2663-2586
My work and research interests sit at the intersection between urban studies and urban science and I have specific expertise on housing, energy, health and indicators. I am particularly interested in the social and governance aspects of the built environment and I mainly draw on political, social and planning theory. Methodologically, I favour mixed-method research designs.
I am also interested in policy applications of my research and work closely with cities in Europe, especially in the UK, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. I am an URBACT Expert and regularly advise on OECD, World Bank and UN Habitat commissions. For example, I led OECD’s work on the decarbonisation of the residential sector through a well-being lens (2019), and advised on World Bank’s Framework for Urban Sustainability (2018). I sit on research evaluation panels for FORMAS (Sweden); Nordfosk (Nordic Council of Ministers); ESRC, EPSRC and UKERC (UK); and ERC (EU).
I am Academic Director for UCL Global City partnership Programme for Stockholm (2020-2023). This academic collaboration between UCL and the Stockholm Alliance (KTH, Karolinska Institute and Stockholm University) starts in September 2020 on the theme of 'Climate Change and Health in the City' https://www.ucl.ac.uk/global/cities-partnerships-programme
My teaching philosophy sits on the dialogue between theory and application/ studio work. As an example, the sustainable urban development specialism that I am teaching at UCL draws on the Capstone approach, whereby students work closely with a ‘client’/ city to deliver a long-term-large-scale sustainable urban plan under academic supervision. I have also directed and shaped the MSc in Sustainable Urbanism at UCL since 2012, and supervised six doctoral students to date. I am regularly invited to give plenary speeches at conferences, and lectured at Oxford University, London School of Economics, Stockholm Royal Institute of Technology, Gothenburg University, TU Delft, Columbia University and Harvard Postgraduate School of Design. I currently teach at the postgraduade level and convene the following modules:
BPLN0058 Sustainable Urban Development: Key Themes
BPLN0059 Sustainable Urban Development: Project
BPLN0052 Major Research Project
I have also lectured on Governance for Urban Sustainability: Key Debates (UCL, postgrad); Green Futures (UCL, undergrad); Making cities: the production of the built environment (UCL, undergrad); Urban Poverty and Social Exclusion (LSE, undergrad); International Housing and Social Change (LSE, postgrad); Urban and Planning Policy (UAUIM, undergrad); Public Administration and Urban Management (UAUIM, postgrad); Building Materials and Specification (UAUIM, undergrad).
01-OCT-2017 | Senior Lecturer | Bartlett School of Planning | Universitry College London, United Kingdom |
01-JAN-2016 – 01-JAN-2019 | Academic External Examiner, MSc Sustainable Planning | School of Life and Medical Sciences | University of Hertforshire, United Kingdom |
01-SEP-2015 – 01-SEP-2019 | Academic External Examiner, BSc and MSc Urban Studies | Department of Urbanism | University of Architecture and Urbanism Bucharest, Romania |
01-SEP-2013 – 30-SEP-2017 | Research Evaluator | Urban and Rural Development | FORMAS (Swedish Research Council), Sweden |
01-OCT-2012 – 30-SEP-2017 | Lecturer | Bartlett School of Planning | University College London, United Kingdom |
01-OCT-2012 | Programme Director, MSc Sustainable Urbanism | Bartlett School of Planning | University College London, United Kingdom |
01-SEP-2007 – 01-SEP-2010 | Part-time Teaching Fellow | Social Policy | London School of Economics, United Kingdom |
01-SEP-1998 – 01-SEP-2000 | Lecturer | Technical and Building Studies | University of Architecture Bucharest (UAUIM), Romania |
2014 | Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education | University College London | |
2010 | Doctor of Philosophy | London School of Economics and Political Science | |
2001 | Master of Science | London School of Economics and Political Science | |
1999 | Master | Universitatea din Bucuresti | |
1996 | Diploma of Architecture | Universitatea din Bucuresti | |
1993 | Bachelor of Architecture | Universitatea din Bucuresti |