Staff Profiles

Journal articles

• Shirazi MR, Keivani R, Brownill S, Butina Watson G, 'Promoting Social Sustainability of Urban Neighbourhoods: The Case of Bethnal Green, London'
  International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 46 (3) (2020) pp.441-465
  ISSN: 0309-1317 eISSN: 1468-2427
  Abstract

  Growing significance of neighbourhoods in different areas of urban planning, along with the increasing attention to the social dimension of sustainable communities and societies, emphasizes the need for conceptualizing socially sustainable neighbourhoods. This article first critically reflects on the concept of socially sustainable neighbourhoods in two areas of definition and operationalization. It then proposes a tripartite framework for measuring social sustainability of urban neighbourhoods which combines three elements of neighbourhood,
  neighbouring, and neighbours. This framework is tested, examined, and discussed in the case of Bethnal Green, London. The findings are integrated into a Social Sustainability Enhancement Index which encompasses practical recommendations to promote social sustainability of Bethnal Green. The article concludes with highlighting research and policy implications of the proposed framework, and suggests some methodological improvements for the future research.
  

  Website 
• Niksic M, Butina Watson G, 'Urban public open space in the mental image of users: the elements connecting urban public open spaces in a spatial network'
  Journal of Urban Design 23 (6) (2017) pp.859-882
  ISSN: 1357-4809 eISSN: 1469-9664
  Abstract

  This paper discusses how the structure of urban public open space is created and interpreted in the mental image of its users in the case of Ljubljana, Slovenia. It reveals how spatially continuous urban open space is physically interconnected into the overall spatial structure of the city and how it is defined by a variety of the built form components. The question is how such space is present in the mental image of users and whether and how such space is structured into sub-units by its users. The paper aims to establish what its dimensions are, how it is divided into separate units at a mental level, and what the perceived hierarchical relations between such units are, in terms of spatial, functional and intangible characteristics of space that conditions this perception. It is argued that both the overall spatial structure of the city and its constituent components play an important role in how users conceptualize urban open public space.
  

  Website 
• Watson GB, 'An international perspective on urban design education'
  Journal of Urban Design 21 (5) (2016) pp.545-547
  ISSN: 1357-4809
  Website 
• Dixon T, Eames M, Britnell J, Butina-Watson G, Hunt M, 'Urban retrofitting: identifying disruptive and sustaining technologies using performative and foresight techniques'
  Technological Forecasting and Social Change - (-) (2013) pp.--
  ISSN: 0040-1625
  Abstract Cities, which are now inhabited by a majority of the world's population, are not only an important source of global environmental and resource depletion problems, but can also act as important centres of technological innovation and social learning in the continuing quest for a low carbon future. Planning and managing large-scale transitions in cities to deal with these pressures require an understanding of urban retrofitting at city scale. In this context performative techniques (such as backcasting and roadmapping) can provide valuable tools for helping cities develop a strategic view of the future. However, it is also important to identify ‘disruptive’ and ‘sustaining’ technologies which may contribute to city-based sustainability transitions. This paper presents research findings from the EPSRC Retrofit 2050 project, and explores the relationship between technology roadmaps and transition theory literature, highlighting the research gaps at urban/city level. The paper develops a research methodology to describe the development of three guiding visions for city-regional retrofit futures, and identifies key sustaining and disruptive technologies at city scale within these visions using foresight (horizon scanning) techniques. The implications of the research for city-based transition studies and related methodologies are discussed.Website 
• Butina Watson G, Kessler L, 'Small changes – big gains: transforming the public and communal open spaces in rundown neighbourhoods'
  Journal of Urban Design 18 (4) (2013) pp.565-582
  ISSN: 1357-4809
  Abstract Rundown neighbourhoods and social housing estates may not be visible to the majority of the population but they have an impact on society as a whole and not just those who live in them. This paper explains the concepts, processes and methods applied in the transformational change of public and communal open spaces in EC1, south Islington in London, and highlights the benefits of the change to their everyday users. The paper brings together a body of urban design theories and urban design collaborative approaches on open space transformational change.Website 
• Durning B, Carpenter J, Glasson J, Butina Watson G, 'The spiral of knowledge development: professional knowledge development in planning'
  Planning Practice and Research 25 (4) (2010) pp.497-516
  ISSN: 0269-7459 eISSN: 1360-0583
  Abstract

  This paper explores knowledge development in professional planners in England, in both the public and private sectors. Through an exploration of how they engage and interact with a rapidly expanding knowledge base, the paper identifies how knowledge and expertise are developed that thereby inform their professional practice. It identifies the role, position in the career and level of expertise of the planner as influential to the drivers for knowledge development and the tools and techniques employed. It proposes that the level of expertise in professional planners should be seen as a spiral rather than a linear transition, and that the planning professional will move in and out of this spiral during their career in response to the changing demands of their professional practice. This paper adds to the body of academic work on the subject of practical knowledge development in planners, which is so far limited in the peer-reviewed literature.

  Website 

Book chapters

• Butina Watson G, 'Urban design and the retrofit agenda' in Lannon S, Hunt M, Dixon T, Eames M (ed.), Urban Retrofitting for Sustainability: Mapping the Transition to 2050, Taylor&Francis (2014)
  ISBN: 9780415642514 eISBN: 9781315850184
  Website 
• Butina Watson G, 'The art of place making' in Sustaining cities: urban policies, practices, and perceptions, Rutgers University Press (2012)
  ISBN: 9780813554167 eISBN: 9780813554174
  Website 

Conference papers

• Butina Watson G, 'The art of place-making'
  (2009) pp.--
  Website 

Other publications

• Durning B, Glasson J, Carpenter J, Butina Watson G, 'Professional knowledge development for sustainable communities'
  (2007)
• Butina Watson G, Carpenter J, Brownill S, Durning B, Reeve A, 'Thames Gateway Evidence Review'
  (2006) Website