Robert Stevens

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Robert Stevens MRTPI, MIED, FHEA

Senior Lecturer in Planning and Geography, Course Leader MSc in Urban Planning

Summary

I am Senior Lecturer in Planning and Geography and Deputy Course Leader BSc in Geography at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. I am a chartered member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I am a member of the advisory board for the QAA Subject Benchmark Statement for Town and Country Planning and the ESRC research peer review college.

Rob Stevens

About

I am Senior Lecturer in Planning and Geography, with a varied but interlinked focus on planning policy and strategy, economic development and regeneration, comparative planning (China; Netherlands), economic geography and urban geography. At various times I have been course leader of the postgraduate Planning award; the postgraduate Regeneration award; deputy course leader of the undergraduate Geography award and led the distance learning centre for the IED MSc in local and regional economic development. I am also an experienced academic advisor and thesis supervisor.

I am a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), the North West branch of the RTPI and the International Planning research network. I am an RTPI schools ambassador and an RTPI Planning Aid volunteer. I am a member of the advisory board for the QAA Subject Benchmark Statement for Town and Country Planning and the ESRC research peer review college.

My undergraduate qualification is a Joint Honours BSc degree in Urban Studies and Political Science. I also have an RTPI Postgraduate Diploma in Urban and Regional Planning and a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Teaching. I am a member of the Higher Education Academy.

Having worked for a decade as a professional planning and development practitioner- and as a central government researcher and policy advisor- I joined Sheffield Hallam University in 2002, initially as an Planning and Regeneration focused researcher in the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research. Later I moved into a teaching position within the school of urban and regional studies (now IOSS).

Senior Lecturer

Teaching

Sheffield Institute of Social Sciences

College of Social Sciences and Arts

Subject area:

  • Geography, Planning and Environment
  • Built Environment

Courses taught:

  • MSc Planning
  • BA/ BSc Geography
  • BSc Real Estate
  • Degree Apprenticeship Planning (both UG and PG)

My teaching is focused on the interrelated areas of Urban Planning, Planning Policy and Strategy, Urban and Economic Geography, Regeneration and- comparatively- Chinese and Dutch focused aspects of these subjects.

Modules that I teach on:
 
First year undergraduate
Contemporary Debates in Human Geography (Economic geography theme)
Approaches to Human Geography (Economic globalisation theme)
Reflective Practice for Town Planners
 
Final year undergraduate
Local Planning Policy (Module Leader)
Planning Sustainable Cities (Module Leader)
Development in the Global South (China theme)
Field Work for Global Challenges (Dutch economic development)
 
Postgraduate
Strategic Spatial Policy (Module Leader)
Comparative International Planning (Module Leader) (Comparative Methods; Dutch planning themes)
Planning and Growth (MSc and degree apprentice- module leader)- until 2026
Policies for Space and Place (MSc and degree apprentice module leader) - until 2026

 

Research

As an experienced university lecturer with a pre-HE background in applied research and policy, in recent years I have restarted the research aspect of my career. My current research draws upon various interrelated and complementary themes across my academic specialisms. Particularly spatial planning, urban studies, economic geography, real estate and planning history. Alongside these are country interests in urban planning and economic geography in China and the Low Countries. My conceptual framework is grounded in institutionalist political economy with a political strand of social democracy.
 
Selected Publications and Conference Presentations:
 
2023- (forthcoming) ‘Smart Cities, planning and the New Urban Agenda: examples from the UK and China’ article submitted to Town Planning Review
 
2019- 'The impact of compensation upon urban residents satisfaction with the land expropriation process in China' Journal of Property, Planning and Environmental Law 2019
DOI: 10.1108/jppel-03-2019-0011
 
2012- Governance Failure? Why have major and flagship projects largely eluded the city of Bristol, England since the late 1980’s? Presentation given at Regional Studies Association Global Conference Sustaining Regional Futures, June 2012, Beijing, China
 
2006- 'Local economy in disadvantaged urban districts- a survey of 5 countries (England review)'
Lokale Ökonomie in benachteiligten Stadtteilen – Ein Blick in fünf europäische Länder. German Institute of Urban Affairs Soziale Stadt info 19 2006
 
2006- Final Report to the Commission Re Urban Mobil Project pp 42- 48Final Report to the Commission Re Urban Mobil Project pp 42- 48 European Union and Stadt Leipzig (2006)
 
2005- Report on Proposed Governance, Legal and Economic Instruments for Leipzig, Ljubljana, Bologna and Leon (2005) EU sixth framework three year programme Re Urban Mobil
 
2004- “Neighbourhood Policy in England, Belgium and Germany: A new localism or a new privatism?" Presentation for International Geographical Union 30th Congress Glasgow University, Scotland, August 2004
 
2004- 'Exclusivity and security or mixed tenure? Unpacking property price differentials in changing urban neighbourhoods.' Paper presented to Housing Studies Association Spring Conference 2004. Sheffield Hallam University
 
2001- 'The 'place' of multi-level governance? Defining the policy agenda for regional developme nt in Western Flanders': paper presented to Multi Level Governance: Interdisciplinary Perspectives June 2001. Political Economy Research Centre, University of Sheffield.
 
2000- 'The Sub- Region And The Public Policy of 'Clusters': The Flemish Experience And Some Lessons For The UK' Paper presented to 'Cities in the region' Dublin April 2000. European Urban Research Association conference
 
 
ReUrban Mobil Project (financed by EU; worked on 2003-2006)
https://www.eling-saalmann.com/re-urban.com/

 

 

Relevant projects include:

1) RA on the NDC National Evaluation (https://ndcevaluation.adc.shu.ac.uk/ndcevaluation/Home.asp)

Tasks including literature reviews, primary research (interviews), secondary analysis of data, secondary qualitative analysis and writing many working papers. I worked on both NDC partnership specific tasks- for example I led the team responsible for undertaking and preparing the 2002-3 Nottingham case study which involved undertaking interviews and operating focus groups; and also on a variety of programme wide tasks including analysing the composite of delivery plans; assessing the realism of the proposed theme-related objectives of NDC yearly plans and producing profiles of all NDC's and a 'typical' NDC.

2) RF on the REURBAN International project (https://www.eling-saalmann.com/re-urban.com/) I contributed as a Research Fellow to a complex, difficult and fascinating project on local economic and environmental change in 4 European countries (Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Spain) . Our team produced the outputs for the work package ‘Economics, Law and Governance’. I was the SHU team coordinator and the main link into the wider project network- working independently or as part of the collaborative team effort. I performed the lead role for the Sheffield team (with its focus on economic and physical development): and I travelled to all the countries undertaking interviews with key actors/ stakeholders and also representing the SHU project team at the various consortium events.

Publications

Journal articles

Chai, N., Stevens, R., Fang, X., Mao, C., & Wang, D. (2019). The impact of compensation upon urban village residents satisfaction with the land expropriation process: Empirical evidence from Hangzhou, China. Journal of Property, Planning and Environmental Law, 11 (3), 186-216. http://doi.org/10.1108/JPPEL-03-2019-0011

Stevens, R. (2006). Local economy in disadvantaged urban districts- a survey of 5 countries (England review)Lokale Ökonomie in benachteiligten Stadtteilen – Ein Blick in fünf europäische Länder. German Institute of Urban Affairs Soziale Stadt info 19, 19-24.

Conference papers

Stevens, R. (2005). “Inner Urban Revitalisation in the ‘new East’ of Europe: What could Szczecin learn from Leipzig? Some practical suggestions from the EU FP6 project ReUrban Mobil”. In International dissemination conference presenting results of European research project ReUrban held at the Institute of Urban Development Krakow September 2005, Municipality of Kraków, Wszystkich Świętych Square 3/4, Sala Kupiecka, 29 September 2005.

Stevens, R., & Parsons, D. (2004). Exclusivity and security or mixed tenure? Unpacking property price differentials in changing urban neighbourhoods. In Housing Studies Association Spring Conference 2004, Sheffield, 15 April 2004 - 16 April 2004.

Stevens, R. (2001). The 'place' of multi-level governance? Defining the policy agenda for regional development in Western Flanders. In Multi Level Governance: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Political Economy Research Centre, University of Sheffield, 28 June 2001 - 30 June 2001.

Stevens, R. (2000). The sub-region and the public policy of 'clusters': the Flemish experience and some lessons for the UK. In EURA 'Cities in the region' Dublin 2000.

Other activities

I am a fully accredited member of the UK Professional Institutes for both Urban Planning (Royal Town Planning Institute, MRTPI) and Economic Regeneration (Institute of Economic Development, MIED). I am also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).

Postgraduate supervision

Over 20 years experience supervising BSc and MSc dissertations across Human geography, Urban planning and Regeneration. Typical topics:

Urban Planning
Planning Policy and Strategy
Economic Development
Local and Regional Regeneration
Economic Geography
Urban Geography
China
The Low Countries (Netherlands and Flanders)

Media

I am a member of the advisory board for the QAA Subject Benchmark Statement for Town and Country Planning.
 
I am an RTPI schools ambassador; an RTPI Planning Aid volunteer.

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