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Research focusing on sustainable urban living explores design innovation at the intersection of technology and policy. Its impact has been through the co-design and co-development of integrated systems for securing a sustainable future in collaboration with user groups and communities. The research has reduced energy consumption and increased well-being through innovations in `whole system' retrofitting combined with user participation in the UK and France. It has also led to the development of `living laboratories' and exemplar projects for both the construction industry and building users, demonstrating ways of `locking-in' and reusing waste material in building construction. Influential in the development of planning policies for urban agriculture in London and Berlin, the research has also been instrumental in empowering and mobilizing communities in cities worldwide.
The research impacted on public policy, practitioners and professional services both nationally and regionally. Specifically, it influenced the setting up and design of the Greater Manchester Challenge (GMC) in 2008, with unfolding educational and professional impacts: (a) measurable improvements in the performance of Greater Manchester schools; (b) participants have continued to collaborate and build on GMC interventions and findings; and (c) the GMC led to a set of recommendations about school-to-school collaboration.
The significance of illumination for the development of innovative place-making strategies designed to enhance convivial life in the city, enable better communal heritage preservation and augment urban economic capacity has been acutely underestimated. The research showcased here is interested in discovering new concepts and methodologies for the understanding, utilisation and evaluation of illumination as both a facilitator and intrinsic expression of communal life in both the city and beyond. The research has initiated a vibrant knowledge exchange between academics, professionals and municipal authorities leading to the establishment of an increasingly international network focused on the politics, aesthetics, communal benefits and economic potential of effective urban place-making through strategic illumination. The research has also impacted on the tourism strategies of coastal towns and resorts, and on heritage cultivation through the provision of expert advice. Among both specialist stakeholders and the wider public the research has raised awareness of illumination as a place-making strategy, as well as a matter of class and taste. The research has also rehabilitated aspects of popular culture by reappraising the role of the vernacular in municipal event planning and general policy-making discourse.
The research impacted on both public policy and professional practice. Specifically the research has enabled the development of an overarching framework for linking interventions in social structures, families and schools, particularly at area level. This in turn has impacted principally (a) on organisational strategy and professional practice at local level; but also (b) on national policymaker decisions and processes involved in the transformation of the `Extended Schools' agenda; and (c) on thinking and strategy by policymakers in Europe and other countries internationally. Crucial to the impact process have been partnership relationships using a development and research (D&R) methodology with a wide range of local initiatives, together with support for change in national and trans-national policy in this field.
DPU's research by Davila, Allen et al into urban infrastructure has generated analytical tools used by policy-makers, practitioners and aid organisations to examine the distribution of and access to urban services. It has supported the development of training curricula used altogether by over 4,000 urban planners in cities of the Global South, and through partners in The Netherlands, India and Colombia. At the policy level, the research has informed local government actors in Colombia, and international bodies (e.g. UN-Habitat and the International Resource Panel) in planning, financing, monitoring and equitable delivery of infrastructure services. At the NGO level, new analytical approaches have been adopted by WaterAid in Mozambique, Nigeria, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a result of DPU research.
The 33km Manchester Ship Canal (MSC) was one of the most polluted waterways in Europe following the industrial revolution. Ecosystems were destroyed and odorous sediment rafts prevented the redevelopment and regeneration of the surrounding water front areas that had an estimated real estate value of £500m.
The research led by White established the cause and extent of water pollution in the upper MSC and Salford Quays. Critically this research allowed evidence based restoration programmes to be initiated that have rejuvenated the waterway and Salford Quays areas. This improvement in water quality was the essential first step in the long term development of Salford Quays that has seen approximately 2,000 homes being built and the arrival of 900 businesses that employ over 35,000 people.
Limitations in public access to water environments for recreation are a longstanding source of stakeholder conflict in which previous policy initiatives have been ineffective. Our research has demonstrated how recreational access to inland waters can be increased through stakeholder capacity building and partnership working. In England and Wales the research led to changes in policy decisions for access to water, revised planning policy guidance, improved recreational access, the creation of 102 new jobs, and the modification of management practices by private and public bodies. In Europe the research has shaped new approaches for the management of small waterways in 11 countries.
Falls are a common (30-40% >65 year olds fall each year) and important age-related health problem costing the NHS and social care >£5.6m each day. University of Manchester research has contributed to reducing the burden of falls worldwide.
We demonstrated that falls are better predictors of fracture than bone mineral density. We developed an effective intervention, reducing falls amongst older people by 30%; identified barriers to service use, and approaches to increasing uptake and adherence; and developed a fear of falling instrument (FES-I), now translated into 30+ languages and widely used in clinical practice.
By 2012, 54% NHS Trusts used training programmes based on our research. It moulded service provision nationally and internationally, changing the emphasis of how falls prevention services are presented, from "reducing risk" to "improving/maintaining independence".
Two decades of research in the Global Urban Research Unit at Newcastle University has significantly shaped public awareness and political understanding of the links between technology, infrastructure and security within highly urbanised societies. Research into the role of cities as key sites of security and war and the spread of `the surveillance society' are two interlocking foci that have generated impacts with global reach. Of particular significance are: a) research and scholarship to develop key concepts and a language that captures and communicates how urban landscapes are being infiltrated by military technologies. We specifically highlight the publication of Cities Under Siege as the culmination of this work and its impact on national and international public debate, and; b) specific studies into surveillance technologies in Britain that impact directly on public debate and the formation of specific national policy.
This work has established the Alliance as a world leader in impactful research into equitable urban land development in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially Angola and Mozambique. For instance, in collaboration with the Angolan NGO, Development Workshop, its policy-influencing findings have been transferred into "real changes in [the] practice of land management" in five Angolan provinces, including the country's most populous. The research has underpinned training for stakeholders from over 40 municipalities in 15 provinces and the upscaling of pilot projects to city-wide programmes including the foundation of new companies (e.g. Navimbuando Ltd., the only firm of its kind in central Angola). To widen interest in the most recent research in Mozambique (described by [text removed for publication] a World Bank funded programme in Maputo as "a milestone in the field of informal settlement studies") a documentary was made, which has already been screened, or selected for screening, in 20 countries in Africa and Europe.