Dr Enrico Tommarchi

Lecturer

Architecture and Urban Planning, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design

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Biography

Enrico Tommarchi is Lecturer in Urban Planning at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, University of Dundee. He holds a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning (IUAV University of Venice) and a PhD in Sociology and Social Anthropology (University of Hull). He has lectured human geography at the University of Hull, urban planning at London South Bank University, and has joined the University of Dundee in 2023. He is an academic with expertise in port and coastal towns and cities, port-city relationships, waterfront redevelopment, cultural and sporting mega events, and culture-led urban regeneration. He has recently published a monograph on event-led regeneration in European port cities. He took part in the JPICH project “Heritage Opportunities/threats within Mega-Events in Europe” (HOMEE) and in the evaluation of the Hull UK City of Culture 2017 programme at the Culture, Place and Policy Institute of the University of Hull. He has conducted research in the UK, Italy, Spain and The Netherlands. He is a member of the Port City Futures Research Network.

Research

Enrico’s research interests include:

  • the geographies of port and coastal towns and cities, and the socio-spatial manifestations of economic restructuring and the ‘permacrisis’ in these places
  • the socio-spatial, political and cultural ties between ports and cities, and the symbolic connections between cities and the sea.
  • culture-led urban regeneration
  • waterfront redevelopment and the physical, socio-economic and symbolic transformation of the urban-water interface.
  • cultural and sporting mega events, and the spectacularisation of urban space
  • maritime heritage, marine and maritime urban cultures, internal and external perceptions of port and coastal towns and cities.

Recent publications

(See also research profile at link below)

Mifsud, W. J., & Tommarchi, E. (Eds.). (in preparation). Liquid Port Cities of the Twenty-first Century: A Pan-Mediterranean Perspective on Cultural Confluences and Contemporary Challenges. Routledge.

Tommarchi, E. (2025, 30th April). Un salto culturale per porti, ex porti e waterfront. Il Giornale dell’Architettura. https://speciali.ilgiornaledellarchitettura.com/2025/03/29/un-salto-culturale-per-porti-e-waterfront/ 

Tommarchi, E., & Jonas, A. E. G. (2025). Culture-led regeneration and the contestation of local discourses and meanings: the case of European maritime port cities. Urban Geography, 46(3), 632-652. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2024.2387944 

Tommarchi, E. (2025). Waterfront Redevelopment Five Decades Later: An Updated Typology and Research Agenda. Ocean and Society, 2, Article 9265. https://doi.org/10.17645/oas.9265   

Tommarchi, E. (2024). The festivalisation of port cities: major/mega events and port city culture. In C. Hein, R. Bartłomiejski & M. Kowalewski (Eds.), Hustle and bustle. The vibrant cultures of port cities (pp. 58–75). Leiden: Brill.

Tommarchi, E. (2024). The ‘Circus’ is coming to town… literally. Contestation and conflict around Formula 1 street circuits. In B. Grabher & I. Lamond (Eds.), Events and Infrastructure: Critical Interrogations (pp. 44–57). London: Routledge.

Tommarchi, E. (2022). European Port Cities and Urban Regeneration. Exploring cultural and sporting mega events at the water’s edge. London: Routledge.

Tommarchi, E. and Bianchini, F. (2022). A heritage-inspired cultural mega event in a stigmatised city: Hull UK City of Culture 2017. European Planning Studies. 30(3), 478-498. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2021.1959722 

Tommarchi, E. (2021). (Re-)generating symbolic port-city links: urban regeneration and the cultural demaritimisation and remaritimisation of European port cities. European Journal of Creative Practices in Cities and Landscapes, 4(1), 59-75. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2612-0496/12089 

View full research profile and publications

Teaching

Enrico teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate level across Urban Planning and Environmental Sustainability programmes. His teaching focusses on planning theory and the politics of urban development, environmentalism and activism, urban and social theories and techniques for spatial analysis. His teaching is shaped by a strong international perspective on urban development and planning. He is Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. 

Enrico welcomes PhD students across a range of research areas connected to spatial planning, urban geography and sociology, and he is always willing to discuss potential applications.

Awards

European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards 2022, “Heritage Opportunities/threats within Mega-Events in Europe” (HOMEE), European Commission, 2022. https://www.europeanheritageawards.eu/winners/heritage-opportunities-threats-within-mega-events-in-europe-homee/