Research Activities

Housing and homelessness

The Joint Centre for Scottish Housing Research (JCSHR) was set up in 1990 as a joint initiative between Geography at the University of St Andrews and Town and Regional Planning at the University of Dundee. The Centre was established to facilitate inter-institutional and cross-disciplinary research on the Scottish housing market. Research interests include the role of housing associations, housing affordability and homelessness. Research contracts since 2001 (funded at European, UK, Scottish and local levels) include measurement for the EU of homelessness; immigration and housing; co-ordination of the European Research Observatory on Homelessness for FEANTSA, the European umbrella agency for national homeless agencies; creation and maintenance of research databases for monitoring registered social landlords in Scotland; plus specific projects for local housing authorities and welfare groups. The most recent major award from the EU began this year, MPHASIS: Mutual Progress on Homelessness Through Advancing and Strengthening Information Systems

This project is funded by the European Commission DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities PROGRESS Programme (Mutual Learning on Social Inclusion and Social Protection). The main objective is to improve the capacity for monitoring information on homelessness and housing exclusion in 20 European countries on the basis of the recommendations of the of the previous eU study on Measurement of Homelessness (Edgar et al, 2007). This will be done through transnational exchange and will be supported by action-oriented research which will directly feed into the European and national discussions on monitoring homelessness within MPHASIS. MPHASIS will be the first European partnership on homelessness monitoring systems.

Community Planning

For the past decade, staff based in Town and Regional Planning have been responsible for monitoring and evaluating the area-based work of the Dundee Community Planning Partnership. Initially part of the Scottish Executive Social Inclusion Partnership Programme, since 2005 the research has been funded by Communities Scotland through the Community Regeneration Fund. A Regeneration Outcome Agreement negotiated for Dundee's high concentration of deprivation is monitored and evaluated by the team and this work involves close co-operation with the Dundee Partnership. Dundee is the only Scottish local authority to contract out local CRF/ROA monitoring and evaluation to an external research unit. The unit has generated a series of research reports, supplemented by papers in academic and professional journals. A research programme on community governance parallels the work of this dedicated unit, including commissioned research on the role of communities in land use and community planning. Complementary research has included a rural fuel poverty project in Perthshire commissioned by a partnership of public agencies.

Environmental governance

Evolving from funded research on environmental taxation and sustainable development indicators, international collaborative research involves evaluating the new tools for environmental governance. Researchers from Dundee, in collaboration with colleagues in British Columbia, New Zealand and Australia, have examined the theory and practice of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) through international symposia; reciprocal visiting scholar arrangements; and conference workshops. The output of this work is published as a series of internationally co-authored papers in refereed journals. Our recent collaboration involved research on the sustainability of rural settlements in British Columbia, funded by the Canadian Government and the Carnegie Trust. This explores the new governance paradigm for human settlement contained in the 2006 Vancouver Declaration, and the potential for 'new regionalist' approaches to economic development in remote northern communities of BC. Ongoing research also covers aspects of industrial ecology and the contribution of this technique to sustainable resource management.

Conservation practice

Working through the Centre for Conservation and Urban Studies (CCUS), our planning staff have an established reputation for research and teaching related to the conservation practice and sustainable regeneration. Recent research projects and publications have related to the conservation of historic docklands; the strengths and weaknesses of conservation areas in the UK; conservation issues related to the porcelain industry in Europe; and the historic townscapes of Malta. Staff have formulated conservation funding packages and management vehicles, such as the Tayside Building Preservation Trust, and carried out technical feasibility reports which have triggered funding for the reinstatement of important examples of the built heritage. These reinstatement projects serve as working conservation research facilities for research students undertaking the Masters degree in European Urban Conservation. The research activity is supported by an annual public programme of Dundee Conservation Lectures which brings together international expertise and attracts funding from the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland, Institute of Historic Building Conservation and Historic Scotland.

Geddes Institute for Urban Research

In 2005, as part of the University's programme of promoting inter-disciplinary research, members of the Architecture, Geography and Town and Regional Planning were asked to develop a proposal for a redesigned, inter-disciplinary research institute which would bring together urbanists from across the University. Membership of the Geddes Institute for Urban Research, which was launched in 2006, is drawn from all academic staff, researchers and research students with interests in urban issues from across the University. Planning staff are represented on the Executive Committee of the Institute and are involved as members. To date the Geddes Institute for Urban Research has sponsored two AHRC-funded workshop series during 2006-07; 'Exploring the digital city: space, culture, politics'; and 'Managing metropolitan regions: Geddes and the Digital Age'. Staff from across the University, including Town and Regional Planning, are working on research entitled 'Narratives of Love and Loathing: Remixing the Living City