Staff Profiles

Emma leads the Research Methods modules across all of the Postgraduate programmes in the school (ARCH7004 and ARCH7027) and is a design tutor in the postgraduate architecture studios 'Research-Led Design I and II', and the 'Design Research Studio' in the MArchD postgraduate masters degree. Emma also teaches into the undergraduate programme through the 'Dissertation' module.

Emma is passionate about teaching research methods and writing skills to architects and designers, and aims in her teaching to arm students with practical advocacy skills to help fulfil their ambitions to design for the common good.

Emma is also a supervisor in the PhD programme and welcomes PhD applications from a wide range of areas sympathetic to her research interests and expertise. This includes topics concerned with: the intersection of law and architecture, design of justice environments, environmental psychology, architecture and actor-network theory, designing for the common good, architectural history and theory, public architecture and government architects, the development of the architectural profession, design theory and research, knowledge sharing in architecture and the design professions, architecture and literature, architecture and arts practice, architectural briefing and programming, making visible architectural knowledges, architecture and information technologies, architecture and digitalisation, histories of government institutions, Foucauldian methodology, architectural archives, architectural oral histories, architecture and human rights.

Modules taught

In the School of Architecture, Emma is the Module Leader of:

ARCH7004 - Research Methods for Design

ARCH7027 - Research Methods and Design

 

Emma is a studio leader in the following Design Studios within the MArchD programme:

ARCH7011 - Research-Led Design I

ARCH7012 - Research-Led Design II

ARCH7013 - Design (Research) Studio I

ARCH7010 - Design (Research) Studio II

 

Emma also teaches into the following undergraduate Module:

ARCH6008 - Dissertation

 

Supervision

Emma is currently co-supervising a PhD candidate based in the Department of English and Modern Languages.

Emma’s research explores the relationship between the built environment and perceptions of fairness and respect in public institutions, with a particular emphasis on how the relationship between the individual and the state is expressed in built form. Her research to date has contributed to our understanding of how spatial design can improve the experience of law for justice participants and facilitate access to justice through the design of law courts. Her interests span the politics of design, the relationship between architecture and ‘the public’, and the role of public architecture in the development of the architectural profession. Emma's research is driven by the desire to make architecture more inclusive and more reflective of the democratic principles of procedural fairness, social justice and due process.

Emma received her PhD from the University of Melbourne in 2011 for her thesis entitled Remote Participation and the Distributed Court. Her doctoral research was attached to the Australian Research Council Linkage Project Gateways to Justice: improving video-mediated communications between justice participants (led by Professor David Tait, Western Sydney University). The recommendations made in Emma’s thesis have formed the basis for extensive and practical evidence-based design guidelines to improve remote participation in court proceedings.

Since then, she has contributed to several large multidisciplinary cross-university research teams on externally funded empirical projects exploring various aspects of the design of law courts, leading to an extensive body of work that spans the disciplines of architectural history and theory, design history, environmental psychology, legal history, socio-legal studies, sociology, political theory and criminology.

Her most significant contribution to this growing academic field is the book The Democratic Courthouse: a modern history of design, due process and dignity (2020, Routledge). This monograph, co-authored with Professor Linda Mulcahy (Director of the Socio-Legal Studies Centre, University of Oxford) reports on the findings of the Leverhulme Trust funded project entitled Design and Due Process: facilitating participation in the justice system. This project examined whether the design of courthouses in England and Wales between 1970 and the present day facilitates participation in, and scrutiny of, the modern justice system. The resulting monograph involved a detailed analysis of over 20,000 pages of government papers, held in both public and privately held department collections, towards writing a definitive history of the design of law courts in late modernity.

Her current research project, Virtual Justice: Enhancing accessibility, participation and procedural justice in family courts and tribunals during the COVID-19 pandemic, is funded by the ESRC through the UKRI Ideas to Address COVID-19 grant call is led by Linda Mulcahy, and undertaken with Anna Tslapatanis and Lucy Klippan. This project aims to create short explanatory films, developed and tested with lay users of the justice system, to better prepare litigants for online justice hearings.

Research group membership

Design, Theory and Practice, School of Architecture

Place, Culture and Identity, School of Architecture

Research grants and awards

2015: Visiting Fellowship at the London School of Economics and Political Science

2015: International Researcher Development Scheme (University of Technology Sydney Internal Grant)

2013: University of Technology Sydney Chancellor's Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Research projects

2020 Virtual Justice: Enhancing accessibility, participation and procedural justice in family courts and tribunals during the COVID-19 pandemic, research project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) through the UKRI Ideas to Address COVID-19 grant call. Role: Co-Investigator (Lead Investigator: Professor Linda Mulcahy, University of Oxford).

2014 Design and Due Process: facilitating participation in the justice system, research project funded by a Leverhulme Trust Research Project Grant. Role: Co-Investigator (Lead Investigator: Professor Linda Mulcahy, University of Oxford).

2013 Just Spaces: security without prejudice in the wireless courtroom, research project funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant. Role: Chief Investigator (Lead Investigator: Professor David Tait,Western Sydney University, collaborating with four other academics spanning six institutions internationally, and seven industry partners).

2013 Contested Visions of Justice: designing the space of law in Australia, research project funded by the University of Technology Sydney Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Scheme.

2007 Fortress or Sanctuary? Enhancing court safety by managing people, places and processes, research project funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant. Role: Research Associate (Lead Investigator:Professor David Tait, Western Sydney University, collaborating with nine other academics spanning eight institutions, and five industry partners).

2007 Gateways to Justice: improving video-mediated communications for justice participants, research project funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant. Role: Australian Postgraduate Award (Industry) PhD candidate (role included a stipend) (Lead Investigator: Professor David Tait, Western Sydney University, collaborating with seven other academics spanning five institutions, and eight industry partners).

Research impact

The practical implications of Emma's research have helped inform court policy and architectural practice in several countries through the Gateways to Justice design guidelines. Her work has influenced the design of courthouses in Australia (see, for instance, the Coffs Harbour Courthouse, as discussed in Rowden and Jones, 2018), and she is often invited by policy makers to discuss the design of justice environments and the implementation and integration of videoconferencing technologies in justice processes.

Books

• Mulcahy L, Rowden E, The democratic courthouse: A modern history of design, due process and dignity, Routledge (2020)
  ISBN: 9780367191689 eISBN: 9780429263651
  Abstract

  The Democratic Courthouse examines how changing understandings of the relationship between government and the governed came to be reflected in the buildings designed to house the modern legal system from the 1970s to the present day in England and Wales.

  The book explores the extent to which egalitarian ideals and the pursuit of new social and economic rights altered existing hierarchies and expectations about how people should interact with each other in the courthouse. Drawing on extensive public archives and private archives kept by the Ministry of Justice, but also using case studies from other jurisdictions, the book details how civil servants, judges, lawyers, architects, engineers and security experts have talked about courthouses and the people that populate them. In doing so, it uncovers a changing history of ideas about how the competing goals of transparency, majesty, participation, security, fairness and authority have been achieved, and the extent to which aspirations towards equality and participation have been realised in physical form. As this book demonstrates, the power of architecture to frame attitudes and expectations of the justice system is much more than an aesthetic or theoretical nicety. Legal subjects live in a world in which the configuration of space, the cues provided about behaviour by the built form and the way in which justice is symbolised play a crucial, but largely unacknowledged, role in creating meaning and constituting legal identities and rights to participate in the civic sphere.

  Key to understanding the modern-day courthouse, this book will be of interest to scholars and students in all fields of law, architecture, sociology, political science, psychology and criminology.

  Website 

Journal articles

• Rowden E, Wallace A, 'Remote judging: The impact of video links on the image and the role of the judge'
  International Journal of Law in Context 14 (4) (2018) pp.504-524
  ISSN: 1744-5523 eISSN: 1744-5531
  Website 
• Rowden E, Wallace A, 'Performing Expertise: The Design of Audiovisual Links and the Construction of the Remote Expert Witness in Court'
  Social and Legal Studies 28 (5) (2018) pp.698-718
  ISSN: 0964-6639 eISSN: 1461-7390
  Abstract

  This article reports on empirical research conducted into the use of audiovisual links (videolinks) to take expert testimony in jury trials. Studies reveal ambivalent attitudes to court use of videolink, with most previous research focussed on its use for vulnerable witnesses and defendants. Our study finds there are issues unique to expert witnesses appearing by videolink, such as compromised ability to gesture and interact with exhibits and demonstrative tools, and reductions in availability of feedback to gauge juror understanding. Overall, the use of videolinks adds an additional cognitive load to the task of giving expert evidence. While many of these issues might be addressed through environmental or technological improvements, we argue this research has broader ramifications for expert witnesses and the courts. The use of videolinks for taking expert evidence exposes the contingent nature of expertise and the cultural scaffolding inherent in its construction. In reflecting on the implications of these findings, and on the way that reliability, credibility and expertise are defined and established in court, we suggest a more critical engagement with the relationship between content and mode of delivery by stakeholders.
  

  Website 
• Mulcahy L, Rowden E, Orr K, 'Making sense of law: Pungency, feel and rhythm'
  Law, Culture and the Humanities 14 (2) (2018) pp.199-201
  ISSN: 1743-8721 eISSN: 1743-9752
  Website 
• Rowden E, Jones D, 'Design, dignity and due process: The construction of the Coffs Harbour Courthouse'
  Law, Culture and the Humanities 14 (2) (2018) pp.317-336-336
  ISSN: 1743-8721 eISSN: 1743-9752
  Abstract

  The discourse around the merit of public architecture often depicts the architect as having complete autonomy over its design. This belies the constraints placed upon creative solutions by design briefs or the intense negotiations between the State, the architect and the various stakeholders involved in the construction process. Through a case study examining the construction of a courthouse, we demonstrate the difficulties in pursuing improvements to the phenomenological experience of justice within these constraints. It reveals the need for architectural knowledge to be shared for the common good in order to resist practices that replicate existing conditions and inhibit innovation.
  

  Website 
• Rowden E, 'Distributed courts and legitimacy: What do we lose when we lose the courthouse?'
  Law, Culture and the Humanities 14 (2) (2018) pp.263-281-281
  ISSN: 1743-8721 eISSN: 1743-9752
  Abstract

  While courthouses often reveal a profound gap between the professed ideals of justice and their delivery, their designs supposedly symbolize the authority of the community over the individual and lend legitimacy to the discipline occurring within. This article considers what happens to the experience and legitimacy of justice when legal participants no longer enter the courthouse, but appear remotely by videolink. Drawing on empirical evidence regarding the use of videolinks in Australian courts, this article reveals current iterations of distributed courts ignore the important symbolic function of the courthouse as the home of justice and the presence of law.
  

  Website 
• Wallace A, Blackman D, Rowden E, 'Reconceptualizing Security Strategies For Courts: Developing A Typology For Safer Court Environments'
  International Journal of Court Administration 5 (2013) pp.3-9
  ISSN: 2156-7964
  Abstract There have been heightened concerns about security in courts in recent years, prompting a strong response that has largely been focused on perimeter security. This paper draws on recent research conducted in Australian on court users' safety needs, to propose a typology for designing safer courtroom environments that moves beyond the entry point to the court, and incorporates consideration of process and design elements.Website 
• Davison G, Rowden E, '"There's Something about Subi": Defending and Creating Neighbourhood Character in Perth, Australia'
  Journal of Urban Design 17 (2) (2012) pp.189-212
  ISSN: 1357-4809 eISSN: 1469-9664
  Abstract

  Planning policy in Australian cities currently favours a more compact urban form, but proposals for higher-density development are frequently resisted by residents who argue that the ‘character’ of a place would be damaged or destroyed. This paper explores the factors underlying this resistance and assesses the extent to which character can be designed for. The paper relates a case study of the Perth suburb of Subiaco, where the design of a major redevelopment project was shaped by the form of surrounding areas, but where long-standing residents claim that it is ‘out of character’ nonetheless. Reflecting on the case through theories of place, urban design and ‘affordances’, it is suggested that this rejection of the project owes much to the way that urban designers focused on replicating certain physical features of Subiaco's character, while neglecting a host of everyday social and experiential meanings that were of equal significance to residents.
  

  Website 
• Rowden E, Wallace A, Goodman-Delahunty J, 'Sentencing by videolink: Up in the air?'
  Criminal Law Journal 34 (2010) pp.363-384
  ISSN: 0314-1160
  Abstract A United Kingdom pilot scheme - where defendants pleading guilty to certain offences remotely from a police station are sentenced via videolink - has sparked considerable controversy. Although attracting less attention, sentenc-ing by videolink also occurs in Australia. The enabling legislation contains few guidelines for the exercise of judicial discretion and little is known about the nature and scope of remote - or videolinked - sentencing, or its impact on the sentencing process and participants. This article presents unique findings from an Australian empirical study about uses of videoconferencing in the justice system. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 56 judicial officers, court administrators, court staff, justice department officials, prosecutors, witnesses and lawyers. Responses pertinent to sentencing reflected both the rationale for implementing remote sentencing as well as concerns about remote sentencing procedures. Results indicated that the use of videolinks can alter the nature of sentencing proceedings, but views that technology necessarily degrades the sentencing process or renders it less effective are overly simplistic. Attention to the configuration of the technology and participants, as well as protocols and procedures for videolink use can potentially preserve the essential functions of sentencing conducted remotely. Recommendations on ways to address stakeholders' concerns without compromising the critical features of sentencing proceedings are proposed.
• Rowden E, 'Waste Not'
  Monument 2008 (2008) pp.32-38
  ISSN: 1320-1115
  

Book chapters

• Stein JA, Rowden E, 'Speaking from the inside: Challenging the myths of architectural history through the oral histories of Maitland Gaol' in Gosseye J, Stead N, van der Plaat D (ed.), Speaking of Buildings: Oral History in Architectural Research, Princeton Architectural Press (2019)
  ISBN: 9781616897543
  Website 
• Rowden E, 'As instalções à distância para crianças e testemunhas vulneráveis: novas perspectivas a propósito de uma tipologia especial emergente (The Remote Witness Facility for vulnerable and child witnesses: new perspectives on an emerging spatial typology)' in Brancos P (ed.), The Remote Witness Facility for vulnerable and child witnesses: new perspectives on an emerging spatial typology, ALMEDINA ces (2013)
  ISBN: 9789724051772
  Abstract For over twenty years courts have utilised video-mediated technologies, such as CCTV and videoconferencing, to access evidence remotely.1 It is widely accepted that use of videolinks has improved the quality of justice by obtaining better quality evidence from children and vulnerable witnesses, and by reducing the possibility of trauma (ALRC 1992; OGrady 1996; Burton et al 2006, 2007). Testifying via videolink reduces stress on children and vulnerable witnesses as they can avoid contact with the defendant, enabling some cases that without the option of videolinks may not have proceeded (ALRC 1989: 4).2 Previous evaluations emphasise the importance of preventing the witness coming into contact with the defendant and their supporters, and from being subject to their gaze (ALRC 1997; Burton et al 2007); however, such a focus perhaps obscures other important reasons that underlie the success of this new court procedure.Website 
• Rowden E, 'Virtual courts and putting "Summary" back into "Summary Justice": Merely brief, or unjust?' in Virtual courts and putting 'Summary' back into 'Summary Justice': Merely brief, or unjust?, Ashgate (2013)
  ISBN: 9781409431732 eISBN: 9781315567655
  Abstract

  In May 2009, Justice Secretary Jack Straw announced the arrival of the ‘Virtual Court’ in the United Kingdom. Established as a pilot, the rst instance linked Charing Cross Police Station with Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court in South London, and was proposed in order to speed up the processing of minor oences.3 Cases under the new system would be heard within hours of the defendant being charged, and a plea of guilty could see sentencing handed down on the same day, all without needing to leave the police station where the person was rst taken into custody. Initially a voluntary programme requiring informed consent from the defendant; the pilot became compulsory for all rst hearings ‘within certain parameters and conditions’.4 Such moves prompt important questions such as: if a person appearing before a Magistrate in the UK Virtual Court Pilot does not ever physically encounter a courtroom, but only the inside of a police station, is it a problem?
  

  Website 

Other publications

• Rowden E, 'Evaluation of the Cross-border Justice Scheme: Final report (28 August 2013)'
  (2013) Website 
• Wallace A, Rowden E, 'Gateways to Justice: The use of videconferencing technology to take evidence in Australian Courts'
  (2009) pp.653-660Abstract Videoconferencing technology is becoming a significant component of eJustice. Across the justice system many countries are making substantial investments in this technology for a range of uses, which increasingly involve the taking of evidence in legal proceedings. While the use of videoconferencing is most often justified on the grounds of cost-savings and convenience, there has been little in the way of research on its effects. What do we know about its impact on the witness who uses it? How is that remote witness perceived in the courtroom? How do they experience the court process? Will the giving of evidence remotely advantage or disadvantage the party who calls that witness? What criteria should courts apply when deciding whether or not to allow evidence to be taken by this method? Should there be different criteria for different types of witnesses? What protocols and procedures should guide the way the evidence is taken? This paper will report on the preliminary findings of a major three-year multi-disciplinary research project designed to improve the way remote witness technology is used in Australian courts. It will discuss the types of technology used, the extent and incidence of its use, the legal and procedural framework, and the design of the remote witness environment. In the past ten years since their inception, the design of remote witness facilities has changed little, reflecting the paucity of research undertaken in this area. We contend that the environmental context in which evidence is given is of great significance, and that a judge allowing a witness to give their evidence remotely cannot be certain that the current architectural and technological configurations will not be deleterious to a witness ability to communicate their position to the courtroom effectively. We argue that an exploration of the concept of `presence in virtual environments can provide valuable insights into the way in which the remote witness environment can be improved. We will outline how our research is being used to develop criteria that will be tested experimentally in the next phase of the project. The results of this research will be used to produce practical guidance for courts on how to best use remote witness technology to achieve just outcomes in an eJustice environment.

Areas of expertise

Emma's research expertise covers the design of law courts, the architetural profession and public architecture.

Membership of professional bodies

Emma is a member of the European Architectural History Network and the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand. Emma is also a member of the Court of the Future Network (an international research network that aims to increase discussion and dialogue between architects, researchers, judges, court administrators and policy-makers), and an associate researcher of L'Institut des hautes études sur la Justice.

Consultancy

Invited Research Projects

2018 Courts Services Victoria - Project: Developing a Co-Design Policy Vision for the Design of Courthouses: understanding the needs of court users Role: Lead Investigator (research team included five academics across two institutions).

2017 NSW Department of Justice - Project: Framework, foundations and design exemplars for AVL suites in juvenile and adult custody settings. Role: Chief Investigator (Lead Investigator: Dr Rohan Lulham, UTS, collaborating with seven other academics across two institutions).

2017 NSW Department of Justice - Project: Initial Environmental Standards for AVL Justice. Role: Chief Investigator (Lead Investigator: Dr Rohan Lulham, UTS, collaborating with seven other academics across two institutions).

 

Presentations to Peak Bodies and Government Departments and Agencies

Emma has also been invited to give presentations or act as a research consultant to several peak bodies and government departments, including the NGO pressure groups The Howard League for Penal Reform and JUSTICE, as well as the Ministry of Justice (UK), the NSW Justice Department and the Australian Court Administrators Group.

Conferences

Conference Organisation

Emma has assisted in the organisation of several international academic conferences that explore the intersection between architecture and justice. These include the Architecture, Law and the Senses Symposium (3-4 September 2014, UTS, Sydney) and the Evidence of Bodies | Bodies of EvidenceSymposium (10 March 2013, UTS, Sydney), the Ninth Annual Jury Conference (The Mint, Sydney, 15 July 2011) and the Third Justice Environments Conference (World Square, Sydney, 20-22 May 2010). Emma was also on the organising committee for several Court of the Future Network Executive Research Court Tours, including the Montreal and New York City Court Architecture Tour (2013); the Spain, Luxembourg and Germany Court Architecture Tour (2011); the Victorian Court Architecture Tour in Melbourne (2009) and the International and European Courts Executive Research Tour (2008).

 

Conference Presentations

Emma has made over 20 presentations at public conferences, symposia and events, with many of them being invited presentations. Highlights include:

Rowden, E. (2021). ‘Space, Thresholds and Interfaces’ Panel member. Criminal Justice Webinar: Access, Architecture, and Aspirations in a Post Covid-19 Future, Invited presentation at the Cambridge Centre for Criminal Justice, University of Cambridge, 26 Jan, 2021.

Rowden, E. (2021). ‘Remote Hearings: Judges and Witnesses appearing onscreen’. Invited Presentation. Presented at the Singapore International Commercial Court Conference 2021. 12-13 Jan 2021 (12 Jan).

Mulcahy, L. and Rowden, E. (2020). ‘The Missing Voice of Government Lawyers’, ACelebration of the life of Philip Lewis Symposium. Wolfson College, Oxford, 10 Mar 2020. Proceedings subsequently published in the Journal of the Legal Profession.

Mulcahy, L. and Rowden, E. (2020). ‘Virtual Justice’. Wolfson College Lecture Series 2019-2020, Wolfson College, Oxford, 5 Mar 2020.

Stein, J.A. & Rowden, E. (2017). ‘Talking spatial memory: Workers, inmates and institutional buildings’. Presented at the Oral History Australia Conference, Sydney: 13–16 Sep 2017 (16 Sep 2017).

Rowden, E. (2017). ‘Experiencing Court: accessing the voice of lay users’. Invited presentation at the Space of Justice Symposium, La Trobe University, Melbourne: 5–7 Jul 2017 (7 Jul 2017).

Mulcahy, L. & Rowden, E. (2016). ‘Unicorns and Urinals: why do modern courts look the way they do?’ Invited presentation at the Architectures of Law: Courts, Space and Legal Legitimacy Symposium, University of Cambridge, Cambridge: 7 Jul 2016.

Mulcahy, L. & Rowden, E. (2015). ‘Unicorns and Urinals: Foucauldian methodology and the apparently unimportant minutiae of the Court Design Guides’. Invited presentation at the Sources and Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice Conference, The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London, London: 19 Oct 2015.

Mulcahy, L. & Rowden, E. (2015). ‘Unicorns and Urinals: why do modern courts look the way they do?’ Invited presentation at The Digital Panoptican Workshop: The History of Crime and the Courts in Three Dimensions, University of Sussex, Brighton: 20 Oct 2015.

Rowden, E. (2013). ‘A relic of barbarism: attempts to remove the dock from the criminal trial in New South Wales’. Presented at the Evidence of Bodies | Bodies of Evidence Symposium. The Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney: 10 Apr 2013.

Rowden, E. (2012). ‘The Gateways to Justice Project: operational and design guidelines to help improve video-mediated communications for justice participants’. Invited presentation at the Videoconferencing in Courts Symposium, Institut des Hautes Études sur la Justice, École de Droit de la Sorbonne, Paris: 28 Jun 2012.

Farbstein, J., Bocchiaro, I. I. I. J., Willard, J. & Rowden, E. (2012). ‘Video Technology and the Transformation of Tomorrow’s Courthouse’. Presented at the Academy of Architecture for Justice, The American Institute of Architects Fall Conference Community Dialogue: Architecture for Justice and Renewal. Toronto Hilton, Ontario, Toronto: 11-13 Oct 2012 (12 Oct 2012).

Rowden, E. (2009). ‘Virtual Courts: Here, There and Everywhere’. Presented at the Architecture and Justice Conference. Lincoln University, Lincoln: 25–27 Nov 2009 (26 Nov 2009).

Other experience

Emma has experience in architectural practice, predominantly working for the studio of Diane Jones at PTW Architects (Sydney, Australia). Here she worked mainly on projects in the following sectors: heritage, justice environments, hospitals, age-in-place developments and international competitions (including the finalists round of the Barangaroo development).

 

Press, publicity and reviews

Alexia Attwood (2013) 'Higher quality court videolinks will improve justice outcomes: study', The Conversation,

http://theconversation.com/higher-quality-court-videolinks-will-improve-justice-outcomes-study-15453