Inclusive futures via experimental urbanism, temporality and adaptive reuse

This studentship is based in the College of Arts, Technology and Environment.

Cities today face layered uncertainties, from climate disruption and economic volatility to rapidly shifting social and cultural dynamics, that conventional planning systems struggle to anticipate or address. In many cities, these pressures are acutely visible in the transformation and decline of urban centres and high streets, where vacancy and underused buildings have become defining spatial conditions. Yet such spaces also offer opportunities to rethink urban regeneration beyond growth-led redevelopment models. Scholarship on experimental urbanism highlights forms of knowledge production grounded in reflexivity, iteration, and learning-by-doing, emphasising experimentation as a means of exploring alternative urban futures through practice rather than predictive planning models.

Building on this legacy, this PhD explores the potential of temporary practices, particularly adaptive reuse, as a critical lens through which to reimagine vacancy and urban regeneration in ways that support civic resilience and ecological transition. Rather than framing empty buildings as symptoms of urban failure, the project conceptualises vacancy as a “geography of the future”: a spatial condition where temporary interventions enable alternative uses, governance models, and imaginaries to emerge. As demand for meanwhile uses and community-led projects grows across high streets and city centres, the research asks how temporary practices can function as mechanisms for envisioning, testing, and materialising more adaptive and inclusive urban futures.

The study engages with debates in planning theory that positions experimentation and prefiguration as key to navigating uncertainty. Adaptive reuse is, therefore, understood not simply as a transitional or interim strategy, but as a mode of inquiry and design experimentation that challenges dominant planning metrics and valuation regimes, including those associated with land financialisation. This study welcomes interdisciplinary, practice-based and creative approaches that draw on mixed and experimental method.

By foregrounding experimentation as a method of urban inquiry, the research aims to reposition vacancy not as a deficit to be solved but as a productive urban resource capable of enabling more imaginative, equitable, and ecologically attuned urban futures.

Project research questions:

• How does experimentation in addressing high street vacancy challenge dominant planning metrics, valuation regimes, and financialised logics of land and property?
• To what extent do emerging civic temporary and adaptive reuse practices act as experimentation in planning practice?
• How can governance, financial and spatial imaginaries enable emerging civic temporary and adaptive reuse practices?

The study will be developed collaboratively with Artspace Lifespace, a Bristol-based organisation recognised nationally for community-led high street innovation. Through initiatives such as Sparks Bristol and collaborations with the Global Goals Centre, the organisation has piloted new models of community-led high street renewal through meanwhile spaces. The successful candidate will have opportunities to engage with the Vacant Property Taskforce—a cross-sector network including retailers, local authorities, Business Improvement Districts, arts and community organisations, legal experts, and property professionals—providing a platform for collaborative learning and real-world experimentation.

If you have any questions about the studentship, please contact Dr Elahe Karimnia at elahe.karimnia@uwe.ac.uk.

The studentship is available from 1 October 2026 for a period of three years, subject to satisfactory progress and includes a tax-exempt stipend, which is currently £20,780 (2025/26) per annum.

In addition, full-time tuition fees will be covered for up to three years (Home).

Please submit your application online. When prompted use the reference number 2627-OCT-CATE16. 

Application deadline

The closing date for applications is 22 May 2026.

Apply now

Supporting documentation

You will need to upload your research proposal, all your degree certificates and transcripts and a recognised English language qualification is required.

You will need to provide details of two referees as part of your application.

Interview dates

It is expected that interviews will take place on weeks commencing June. If you have not heard from us by July, we thank you for your application but on this occasion you have not been successful.