Centre for Sustainable Planning and Environments (SPE)

by Heather Rumble Soil: Most of us rarely think about it and are likely unaware that the global degradation of soils is one of the biggest threats we face as a species (Gupta, 2019). Healthy soils provide the food we eat, filter the water we drink, protect us from natural disasters and pollution and form … Continue reading "The Beasts Below: Empowering Professionals in the British Virgin Islands to Monitor Soil Biodiversity"

by Rachel Alcock-Hodgson I am an active travel professional who has worked for Sustrans since 2015. I now work for Sustrans Scotland as a grant funder in the Places for Everyone team and I am also completing an Urban Planning Masters at UWE. Places for Everyone is Sustrans’ permanent active travel infrastructure fund for Scotland. … Continue reading "Designing for Children & Young People: A Toolkit for practitioners"

By Jo Zhou and Esme Hatton Health is not only the absence of disease or infirmity but also a sense of physical, mental, and social wellbeing. It is widely acknowledged in academia and practice that the way in which the living environment is designed influences inhabitants’ well-being. Unfortunately, the enabling of better connections between wellbeing … Continue reading "Healthy Place-making and Human Wellbeing: Some lessons learnt from the Wapping Wharf Project, Bristol"

by Sinead Ryan I am currently carrying out an internship with UWE Bristol’s World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Healthy Urban Environments. As part of my internship programme with UWE Bristol, I had the pleasure of attending a series of activities led by Dr Michael Buser in collaboration with the Voices of Children, a Ukrainian … Continue reading "My UWE internship: a diary 24th-28th of April"

Welcome to our new SPE Research Centre Members who have recently joined UWE . We have continued 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. Amanda Ramsay I joined SPE in May, having … Continue reading "Welcome to our new SPE Research Centre Members"

by Amir Gohar Background As a specialized urbanist, I have had a long career of working professionally in participatory design and planning. I directed projects scaled from detailed design interventions to master planning; these included coastal urban planning in the Red Sea; urban design in Senegal; design agro-farms with local community in arid areas in … Continue reading "CELEBRATING HABIBA EID (The Egyptian Jane Jacobs)"

by Rebecca Windemer Arriving in Sweden, I was excited to learn more about their impressive renewable energy production and heat networks. Sweden has been a leader in this area, aiming to generate 100% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2040. What I was not expecting during my visits to Gothenburg and Stockholm, was to … Continue reading "From City Planning to Renewable Energy: Lessons from Sweden’s engagement approach"

By Amir Gohar Although the history of governances has been thoroughly chronicled and the history of tourism has also been thoroughly examined, the relationship between both has received relatively little attention. This is primarily because numerous scholars have specialised in certain perspectives of tourism, including anthropological, sociological, cultural, economic, business, and hospitality.  The management of tourism … Continue reading "Tourism Governance: a critical discourse on a global industry"