- Place and Experience
About me
I am Assistant Head of School at the University of Westminster's School of Architecture and Cities, where I have responsibility for a range of school-level matters, including coordinating our planning offer. I am also a Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, contributing to the school's planning courses at postgraduate level.
I hold a PhD in Urban Planning from Columbia University, New York. Having studied and worked in Germany, Italy, and the United States, and having taught, lectured, and given invited talks at institutions in different countries, I bring an international profile and a comparative sensibility to my work on cities, planning, urban tourism and contemporary urban transformations more generally.
Alongside my academic work, I engage with broader publics through non-academic writing and through consultancy and advisory work for public, private, and non-profit organisations active in urban and tourism development, planning, and policy. I am a member of the Curatorial Board of the Internationale Bauausstellung Stuttgart-Region 2027 (IBA27) and of the expert group for the European Commission's New European Bauhaus Facility.
Teaching
I teach primarily on the MA Urban and Regional Planning, focusing on planning theory, policy, and practice, with additional teaching on other planning courses and, more broadly, across disciplines within the built environment field. My approach centres on developing reflective practitioners equipped to navigate the contested, often political terrain of spatial planning, through problem-based learning, critical thinking, and engagement with practitioners.
Research
My research addresses planning history and theory, the politics of urban development, and tourism and leisure, examining how cities are shaped, contested, and imagined through both practice and policy. Recent publications include Tourism and the Metropolis: Exploring Conceptual and Geographical Frontiers (University of Westminster Press, 2026), co-edited with Maria Gravari-Barbas, Sébastien Jacquot, and Maja Jović, and Right-wing Populism and Urban Planning (Journal of Urban Affairs, 2023, with S. Fainstein).
Publications
For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.