PhD Study : Planning for Community Resilience: bridging the policy-practice gap

Summary

By 2050 it is estimated that 70% of the world’s population will live in cities. Yet, cities across the globe face unprecedented challenges from, for example, urbanisation, climate change, demographic change and technological advances. At the global level, the UN is coordinating global efforts to address such challenges via international agreements (e.g. the Paris Agreement), policy (e.g. the New Urban Agenda) and goals (e.g. the Sustainable Development Goals).

At the national and local levels, governments, non-governmental bodies, businesses and civil society will need to be collectively engaged in achieving such objectives to make cities more resource-efficient, competitive, healthy, inclusive and resilient. The field of resilience has rapidly evolved and has permeated scientific and popular debates with new ideas being tested and introduced in relation to the planning, regeneration and governance of urban areas (Coaffee and Lee 2016). ‘Community resilience’, in particular, has opened up an important sphere for developing theoretical and policy understandings of vulnerabilities at the community level (McElduff et al. 2016). This emerging field contains many voices expressing multiple, and sometimes conflicting, interpretations and meanings.

There are continuing tensions between normative and analytical stances on resilience, and its application to social and ecological systems and dilemmas has been widely critiqued for under-theorising social dimensions, most notably, the omission of political and cultural dynamics (see for example, Davoudi et al. 2012). Additionally, there is a clear gap between the advocacy of resilience in the literature and its take up as a policy discourse on the one hand, and the demonstrated capacity to govern for resilience in practice on the other (Wilkinson, 2011). This PhD research seeks address these gaps by exploring the conceptual and practical issues involved in building resilient communities.

The research will focus specifically on the role of urban planning in strengthening the ability of society to adapt to, and mitigate for, the anticipated impacts of contemporary social (e.g. demographic change and migration), economic (e.g. enhancing city/region competitiveness), environmental (e.g. climate change and coastal change) challenges. The research will identify how resilience has been interpreted and utilised in national and local planning policy, providing a useful case study for global urban governance. It will subsequently investigate the extent to which such policy ambitions have been translated into practice at the local/community level. Through adopting a comparative case study approach, the research will critically evaluate practical approaches to deal with the complex, multi-faceted nature of the challenges facing urban areas and the communities that live there.

The intended outcomes of the research include an evidence based framework for how resilience thinking can be translated into policy design and practical responses to ensure planning policy-makers and practitioners can better understand and manage the cities of today and tomorrow in a coherent and coordinated way.

Essential criteria

Applicants should hold, or expect to obtain, a First or Upper Second Class Honours Degree in a subject relevant to the proposed area of study.

We may also consider applications from those who hold equivalent qualifications, for example, a Lower Second Class Honours Degree plus a Master’s Degree with Distinction.

In exceptional circumstances, the University may consider a portfolio of evidence from applicants who have appropriate professional experience which is equivalent to the learning outcomes of an Honours degree in lieu of academic qualifications.

• Clearly defined research proposal detailing background, research questions, aims and methodology

Funding and eligibility

The University offers the following levels of support:

Vice Chancellors Research Studentship (VCRS)

The following scholarship options are available to applicants worldwide:

• Full Award: (full-time tuition fees + £19,000 (tbc))
• Part Award: (full-time tuition fees + £9,500)
• Fees Only Award: (full-time tuition fees)

These scholarships will cover full-time PhD tuition fees for three years (subject to satisfactory academic performance) and will provide a £900 per annum research training support grant (RTSG) to help support the PhD researcher.

Applicants who already hold a doctoral degree or who have been registered on a programme of research leading to the award of a doctoral degree on a full-time basis for more than one year (or part-time equivalent) are NOT eligible to apply for an award.

Please note: you will automatically be entered into the competition for the Full Award, unless you state otherwise in your application.

Department for the Economy (DFE)

The scholarship will cover tuition fees at the Home rate and a maintenance allowance of £19,000 (tbc) per annum for three years (subject to satisfactory academic performance).

This scholarship also comes with £900 per annum for three years as a research training support grant (RTSG) allocation to help support the PhD researcher.

• Candidates with pre-settled or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, who also satisfy a three year residency requirement in the UK prior to the start of the course for which a Studentship is held MAY receive a Studentship covering fees and maintenance.
• Republic of Ireland (ROI) nationals who satisfy three years’ residency in the UK prior to the start of the course MAY receive a Studentship covering fees and maintenance (ROI nationals don’t need to have pre-settled or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme to qualify).
• Other non-ROI EU applicants are ‘International’ are not eligible for this source of funding.
• Applicants who already hold a doctoral degree or who have been registered on a programme of research leading to the award of a doctoral degree on a full-time basis for more than one year (or part-time equivalent) are NOT eligible to apply for an award.

Due consideration should be given to financing your studies. Further information on cost of living