Postgraduates

Ajeng Nugrahaning Dewanti

'The Development of The New Capital City of Indonesia: "How is the Planning Process Initiative and Evaluation Framework to Achieve the Development Goals and bring the Resilience of the Local Community'
Supervisors: Dr Sebastian Dembski, Dr Tatiana Moreira de Souza
Description: It is almost five years since the Indonesian government established a policy on relocating the capital city of Indonesia from Jakarta to Penajam Paser Utara Regency and some parts of Kutai Kartanegara Regency, East Kalimantan. The New Capital City called Nusantara covers a land area of approximately 256,142 ha and a sea area of approximately 68,189 ha. The realization of Nusantara, the New Capital City (Ibu Kota Negara—IKN), has been a paramount concern. From the government’s point of view, it is meant to support an inclusive economy, bringing multiplier effects, creating employment, and reducing poverty. The success of development depends on empowering communities through their active participation and contribution. The state capital on Kalimantan Island is expected to trigger even more spreading and trickle-down effects; the flow of population, capital, goods, and services from activity centres can affect all corners of the country. This study aims to identify how the government's efforts to teach the goals of relocating the nation's capital related to the planning process initiative, evaluation framework, and measure the community resilience related to the development of the new capital city.

Alexander Petrov

''The influence of city planning policies on the effectiveness of industrial heritage regeneration processes in UK cities with developed real estate markets: a qualitative investigation'
NWSSDTP studentship (October 2023 enrolled)
Supervisors: Dr Olivier Sykes, Dr Tatiana Moreira de Souza
Description: The industrial past of many big cities is reflected through an impressive amount of land occupied by former factories. In order to cope with the declining industrial heritage, every postindustrial city government has to create and implement industrial regeneration policies (as a part of the planning policy). The effectiveness of such policies depends on how they are used, whether the framework of the regeneration process brings more limitations or opportunities for developers and investors. The proposed research will focus on British cities with high concentrations of industrial heritage and highly developed real estate markets. The aim is to determine whether and to what extent industrial regeneration policies that are set up influence businesses that conduct regeneration projects and what impact is made on local residents, city economy and sustainability. This project seeks to improve the quality of collaboration between private and public sides in the process of industrial heritage regeneration through increasing the planning policies’ effectiveness.

Andreas Siantos

''Connecting urban cycling to transport policy and urban design guidance - Linking national guidance to local practice and implementation in U.K. cities' 
Supervisors: Dr Alex Nurse, Dr Richard Dunning
Description: The thesis explores the concept of ‘urban cycling’ and sets out three key strategic aims: a) To examine how cities engage with transport policy and urban design guidance; b) To identify the degree to which it informs the governance of urban transportation frameworks, and ultimately; c) To understand how U.K. cities can succeed in establish cycling as a viable and desirable mode in the matrix of everyday urban life, in response to the needs of urban dwellers. A thorough biaxial case study analysis of cycling in U.K. cities, partly informed by inputs from high-profile professionals which hold key positions within national and local bodies of governance, exposes the inter-relational dynamics at play between the thesis' main thematic concepts and highlights the limitations of existing policy and governance frameworks in addressing the needs for sustainable urban transportation in the current age. The thesis ultimately aims at the development of a policy toolkit which provides clear guidance for cities, rooted on their specific context, in order to facilitate and enhance their decision-making mechanisms and processes. Email Andreas

Andrew K Palmer

'Motivations to visit green and natural spaces– how perceptions of ‘quality’ vary across different communities.' 
Supervisors: Dr Mark Riley (Primary), Dr Sarah Clement (University of Western Australia), Dr Karl Evans (University of Sheffield), Prof Laurence Jones (UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology), Dr Beth Brockett (Natural England)
Description: The numerous benefits derived from contact with the natural environment are well documented. However, certain communities (e.g., who face multiple deprivations or who belong to ethnic minorities) have been shown to visit natural spaces less often and have poorer health outcomes. Little is known about how individual perceptions of quality vary across different communities and what enables or constrains visitation to green and natural spaces. This research project partners with Natural England to address these cleavages by adopting a qualitative, user-centred approach to provide an in-depth understanding of how perceptions of quality vary across disadvantaged groups. These findings will inform the advancement of targeted strategies to close inequity gaps between different population segments. - Email Andrew

Anastasiia Markeliuk

Community Connectedness and Decision Making: Investigating the Role of Community Cohesion Building in the Delivery of GDF Community Partnerships
Supervisors: Dr Catherine Queen, Dr Thomas Moore, Prof. Patrick Devine-Wright
Description: The aim of Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) Community Partnerships is to share information, discuss concerns, and find answers to questions that a community has about all aspects of the GDF siting process. We will work with Nuclear Waste Services, local communities of practice, and of place, with a focus on small communities that are frequently perceived to be without power or voice in engagement processes. The research will consider a range of factors such as physical characteristics, socio-economic factors, digital connectivity, and aspects of place attachment to better understand community cohesion. The primary outputs from this research will expand our understanding of community composition and cohesion and its importance in relationship building with potential GDF sites.

E-mail: markeliu@liverpool.ac.uk

Bayan Shabeeb

'Environmental impact assessment and management of produced water in the southern Iraqi oil fields.' 
Supervisors: Prof. Thomas Fischer, Dr Urmila Jha Thakur
Description: - This study aims to establish how the produced water in oil fields is taken into account in planning applications of oil extraction activities with a particular focus on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and to identify how planning, EIA and management practices for southern Iraqi oil fields can be improved in order to become more environmentally sustainable. Email Bayan

Christopher Russell

'The effects of high-speed rail on innovation and developing inter-connected high-tech science landscape in Taiwan' 
Supervisors: Dr Chia-Lin Chen, Dr Chuan-Yuan Wong (NTHU), Dr Olivier Sykes, Dr Chuan-Kai Li (NTHU)
Description: This PhD research project aims to examine the impacts of high-speed rail on facilitating innovation, and delve into the phenomenal clustering of knowledge spill-overs across high-tech and knowledge-intensive activities and actors in Taiwan. Partly based in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on a dual-PhD programme with NTHU, this project looks to provide a new perspective to the high-speed rail debate, and identify whether investment in high-speed infrastructure offers innovative gains within firms. - Email Christopher

Claudia Akolam

'Women Empowerment and Environmental Impact Assessment in Ghana'
Supervisors: Dr Urmila Jha-Thakur, Dr Catherine Queen
Description: Gender inequality is a global issue, especially in developing countries where there are significant gaps between men and women in almost all aspects of life. Women are discriminated against in several ways including environmental decision-making. Although women play vital environmental protection roles; research suggests that women are more concerned about the environment than men but lacks influence and inputs in environmental decision-making processes including Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). This research aims to evaluate EIA public participation in Ghana with focus on women’s role and arrive at measures to build their capacities for effective contributions within EIA in the gold mining sector. Email Claudia

Farida Khuril Maula

'The Challenge of Developing Climate Resilience in Informal Settlements in Indonesia through Community Involvement'
Supervisors: Dr Sebastian Dembski, Dr Thomas Moore
Description: Climate change poses a significant challenge to those living in informal settlements. Among the most challenging aspects of adaptation is building resilience. Yet, informal settlements have emerged outside the formal planning system and the regulations intended to ensure safe and resilient structures, settlements, and systems. How it is possible to build climate resilience for those living outside the formal systems remains a significant challenge for the local government. My research will be about exploring the potential of community involvement to build climate resilience in informal settlements located in Indonesia. Email Farida

Hafi Munirwan

'The Enforcement Policy of Street Vendors in Urban Space and the Relocation Practice in Indonesia' 
Supervisors: Dr Sebastian Dembski, Dr Richard Dunning
Description: Informality, Informality,  referring to the unplanned and unregulated activity, has long become an integral part of cities in the Global South. In the modern city, street vendors as a form of urban informality, is considered illegal and problematic by the authority, with the authority responding to such practice with the policy of eviction. However, the recognition of democracy, citizens' right to the city, and informal economies contribution toward urban economies, has led to the changing of policy towards street vendors in Indonesia, from the policy of eviction to the policy of enforcement, with the local authority starting to implement relocation strategy. With the authority shifting the policy, the policy implementation is facing many challenges in the field, such as refusal and the returning of the trader to the street after relocation. Based on that, this paper aims to examine the policy making process of street vendors relocation practice in Indonesia by looking at the interaction of the formal and informal institutions, to examine livelihoods and adaptability aspects in the policy framework, and finally, to propose some recommendations to improve the street vendors relocation policy framework. - Email Hafi

Hannah Jones

'Well-being at the coast: maximising the socio-cultural benefits of England’s seascapes'
Supervisors: Dr Stephen Jay, Dr Leonie Robinson
Description: Our seas and coastlines and oceans provide numerous ecosystem services to society. While many of these, including provisioning services such as food from fisheries, regulatory services regulating our climate others such as the value of the aesthetic to our mental wellbeing and sense of place are more difficult to quantify. The incorporation of a natural capital approach into the process of Seascape Character Assessment will help to shape the way decision makers can value these more social and cultural benefits. This project aims to develop an understanding of seascape that is informed by applying a natural capital approach to the coastal environment and that can be integrated to marine and coastal planning, with an emphasis on the contribution of seascape to well-being.  The project will also contribute to a more holistic understanding of natural capital, in that natural, social and cultural dimensions are co-constitutive of social benefits (Acott & Urquhart, 2017). This project will focus on seascape and the application of Seascape Character Assessments as part of the marine planning process in England.  The PhD project is being supported by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) who are responsible for marine planning in England, who are acting in a non-academic supervisory role within the project. Email Hannah

Haojia Wang

'Research on the effectiveness of Plan Environmental Impact Assessment (PEIA) in China' 
Supervisors: Prof Thomas Fischer and Dr Urmila Jha Thakur 
Description: Description of my research project: SEA is well accepted as an important decision-making tool in many countries and regions. China, as one of the first countries to develop SEA, has introduced corresponding laws and regulations to guarantee SEA, but SEA at the Plan level (PEIA) is considered the core part of SEA in China, and these laws and regulations are mainly focused on PEIA. With the launching of the Environmental Impact Assessment Law in 2003, more and more cities are integrating PEIA into their urban planning process. My research attempts to explore whether these urban planning PEIAs are fulfilling their roles, responsibilities, and objectives. That is, research focusing on the effectiveness of PEIAs. - Email Haojia

Jennifer Hamilton

'Investigating the role of governance in delivering healthy green and blue spaces' 
Supervisors: Dr Alex Nurse and Dr Catherine Queen
Description: Green and blue spaces (e.g. parks and playing fields, lakes and canals) are important natural resources which offer people in urban areas opportunities to exercise and connect with nature, the benefits of which are well known. The ways in which these spaces are managed varies, often relying on intricate networks of agencies, groups and local citizens to develop and maintain them. This project aims to explore these different networks and understand how they interact with national-level institutions and ultimately set out best practice and make policy recommendations for the governance and management of green/blue spaces. Email Jennifer

Jiewen Li

'Children as preliminary humans: creating a new framework for building Child-friendly Cities in planning and its application in the Chinese context' 
Supervisors: Prof. David Shaw, Dr Manuela Madeddu and Dr Tatiana Moreira de Souza
Description: The quality of children’s lives in urban areas has not received adequate attention. Child-friendliness is often seen as a cosmetic component, put on the back burner once more ‘urgent’ needs arise, such as economic growth. In order to identify and correct the current misunderstanding of child-friendliness, this research aims to develop and implement a new framework to create child-friendly cities that organically integrate child-friendliness into the whole planning process to benefit all people.

Kate Drury

‘Exploring the implementation of Digital Tools in Urban Planning: Lessons from the UK and Taiwan’
Supervisors: Dr Chia-Lin Chen, Dr Les Dolega, Dr Chung-Han Yang (NTHU, Taiwan), Dr Frank Chuang (NCCU, Taiwan)
Description: This PhD research project aims to investigate the integration of data-driven solutions in urban planning within the contexts of the UK and Taiwan, representing the Global North and East. Conducted as a comparative analysis, the study will explore how digital solutions can be effectively adopted, focusing on elements such as policy frameworks, technological infrastructure, cultural influences, and stakeholder engagement. Based partly in Taiwan, on a dual programme with NTHU, the research aims to identify the shared and unique factors that shape digital transformation in planning practices in each context. It will draw broader conclusions on global trends and propose strategies to overcome these challenges, ultimately offering insights into fostering innovative and efficient digital practices applicable to urban environments worldwide.

Li Li

'A Study of Health Science Parks in China'
Supervisors: Prof. Alex Lord, Prof. Yiquan Gu
Description: To determine a location to start firms, entrepreneurs of today navigate increasingly complex environment, facing rising amounts of information and an expanding choice of alternatives. The blossom of biotech industry in China resulted in huge number of health science industrial parks developed with wide space, mature infrastructure and advanced facilities available for access and making policies to promote sites. However, the nature of the industry increases symmetric expectations for demand and supply sides of the parks planning. This research is to provide new insights into the process by which health science parks are planned in China and the decision making of those businesses and researchers that come to occupy them. Email Li

Michael Hurtley

'Analysing the changing relationship of design promotion within the statutory town planning system' 
Supervisors: Dr Olivier Sykes & Dr Manuela Madeddu
Description: The role of design within the statutory planning system has once more become a dominant theme within policy initiatives and political rhetoric, and appears to be a central concept within placemaking. However, despite attempts by successive governments to promote improved design standards, the quality of design and placemaking has arguably not improved. This thesis seeks to offer a historic analysis of the changing relationship between design and town planning since the inception of the statutory town system in 1909. By using three key moments of design as case studies, it will be possible to explore how and why design became a more dominant output of town planning practice, at certain moments in the history of the development of the planning system in the UK over the last century.  In order to consider emergent themes and analyse why design ideals underpinned planning theory in these key moments, this research utilises the policy stream theory and the path dependency model as methodological tools to assess the role of key individuals, institutions and the wider political and social narrative of the day. It is anticipated that this approach will reveal dominant themes, the cyclical nature of the relationship between statutory town planning and design, and offer answers to how design thinking might be better integrated into planning practice today. Email Michael

Min Wang

''Social capital and heritage-led regeneration process, a case study of Xi’an' 
Supervisors: Dr Olivier Sykes, Dr Fei Chen, Dr Gareth Abrahams
Description: - Social capital is one of the omitted aspects in current study of urban regeneration. Today, when participatory and bottom-up planning is considered, social capital is regarded as one of the most important and influential social factors in urban regeneration. Heritage-led regeneration attempts to marry “conservation” and “development” during times of rapid urbanisation, which is a very constructive method for conservation and social benefits. There is an increasing expectation for the value of social capital in the heritage-led urban regeneration process, which provides an opportunity for sustainable local development and heritage engagement. Firstly, this research attempts to investigate social capital in the case study area and analyse the value of social capital. Social Capital Assessment Tool (SOCAT) is used to collect qualitative data. Secondly, this research will analyse different dimensions of social capital, and explore the role of local community, private sector, urban planners/authority in fostering local development through regeneration schemes and planning policies. Lastly, this research aims to develop a social capital analytical framework and policy recommendations in the further heritage-led urban regeneration process, which will perform as a regeneration project life cycle model and contribute to sustainable planning and decision-making processes. Email Min

Mohammad Meidiansyah

''Does Participatory Budgeting Matter in Developing Indonesian Rural Areas?' 
Supervisors: Dr Sebastian Dembski, Prof. David Shaw and Dr Catherine Queen
Description: - In rural areas, uncertainty hinders decision-making. Uncertainties include the certain risk of new investment opportunities due to lack of human behaviour knowledge, intrinsic unpredictability, and behavioural uncertainty that could lead to unachievable results. Diverse policymakers with various priorities yield unpredictable results. When there are several decision-makers, the analysis becomes complex, and it's hard to discover a solution. The final decision becomes tough, hindering rural development. This proposed study investigates participatory budgeting's process in developing rural communities. The study's main purpose is to examine the participative decision-making process that identifies rural stakeholders' preferences and needs. Email Mohammad

Mulumba Agaba

‘Advancing Biodiversity Mainstreaming in EIA: Lessons from Uganda’ 
Supervisors: Prof. Thomas Fischer, Dr Urmila Jha Thakur
Description: Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) serves as a critical mechanism for embedding environmental considerations into development projects, yet there are persistent challenges in securing the desired outcomes for biodiversity and executing effective mitigation strategies. This study conducts assess how biodiversity is considered in the assessment process, the methodologies used for biodiversity data collection, the depth and breadth of biodiversity information included in EIA documents, and the impact of these practices on decision-making, even beyond EIA implementation. The study also evaluates the effectiveness of mitigation measures and explores stakeholder perceptions regarding biodiversity-inclusive EIA processes. The overarching goal is to advance the mainstreaming of biodiversity considerations within the EIA process, thus promoting more informed and effective biodiversity decision-making in the context of EIA and development projects.  

Email: agmatt@liverpool.ac.uk

Musarrat Zaman

''Climate Smart City Model for the Sustainable and Resilient Urban Development in Dhaka City, Bangladesh’' 

Supervisors: Prof. David Shaw, Dr Catherine Queen, Dr Yuan Shi

Description: - This study will act as a baseline for the policy making and implementation pathway towards climate resilient Bangladesh, one of the most vulnerable South Asian countries due to climate change. Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh is rapidly growing and undertaking numerous mega development projects. Climate change impacts are evident here as a great number of urban hazards like heatwaves, urban floods, environmental pollutions, public health issues are occurring frequently. In this situation both the sustainability and resilience are under risk. There is no alternative of controlling its random sprawl and make it sustainable through innovation and technology. Therefore, Climate Smart City (CSC) framework will be developed through extensive analysis and strategic planning. Structural Equation Model (SEM) will be applied using SPSS and Python for generating multivariate CSC framework which will identify the influencing factor regarding climate change risk and help to prepare climate smart city model for reducing the risk. The best suited customized parameters and distinctive indicators under each parameter will be identified through quantitative and qualitative techniques. This research will analyse both the root causes and effects to give the solution against them.

Email: auro731@liverpool.ac.uk

Nicolás Del Canto

''The relationship between urban vitality and offices-to-residential (OTR) conversion in UK cities' 
Supervisors: Dr Richard Dunning
Description: This research addresses the relationship between urban vitality and office-to-residential (OTR) conversions in UK cities. OTR conversion has been taking place in cities worldwide and will continue whether authorities have planned it or not – in most cases, driven by the need to cope with housing shortage demands. However, after the pandemic, developing OTR conversions has focused significant attention because of the drop in office vacancies related to the appearance of hybrid or working-from-home trends. In this context, policymakers have asked, “can empty office space be the solution for the housing crisis?” The standpoint of this research is from a different perspective. If OTR conversion is seen as an ongoing phenomenon that will keep evolving, this research suggests using urban vitality as a tool to steer a better housing quality provision. Thus, this research will allow identifying neighbourhoods’ vitality clusters to encourage OTR conversion in areas with high vitality potential. Email Nicolás

Umrah J. Mahadik

''Connecting religious values to climate change adaptation and planning' 
Supervisors: Prof. Thomas Fischer and Dr Urmila Jha Thakur (External supervisors: Dr Sarah Clement, Prof. Christopher Baker and Rev'd Dr John Reader
Description: . - This research investigates the intersection of religious beliefs, values, and climate action to understand how we can effectively act on the most urgent environmental and moral issue of our time, climate change. Whilst there is widespread consensus on the evidence, the use of facts is limited in efforts to tackle climate change, as motivation to act is often more influenced by ideology and personal values. In fact, psychologists argue that religion is among the most powerful of all social forces, playing an adaptive role in society whilst sustaining communities; a mosaic of psychological influences on the human-nature relationship which encourages people to act collectively in tackling what has been called the world’s biggest collective action problem. This research aims to create an original, practical and innovative indexing system to score the adaptive capacity of dominant world religions. This PhD is funded by the Gift of Knowledge with in-kind support from the William Temple Foundation. Email Umrah

Vivian Agbasoga

'Telecommunications Masts and Base Transceiver Stations in Neighbourhoods: The Role of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)' 
Supervisors: Prof. Thomas Fischer, Dr Urmila Jha-Thakur, and Dr Sarah Clement
Description: The Nigerian telecommunications industry has experienced enormous growth since the introduction of the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) in 2001. Growing demand for broader telecommunications coverage and wider transmission of electronic signals across Nigeria and beyond necessitated the need for extensive distribution of masts and base station installations across cities. Despite, the advantages of telecommunications in Nigeria, there are rising concerns over its negative impacts on the environment. Fears over the multiplication of base stations arise from immediate dangers associated with environmental pollution as well as the collapse of masts. This study aims to explore residents’ perception of the environmental impacts of masts and base stations, examine the function of EIA in their installations and proffer recommendations for effective environmental management. Email Vivian

Yuman Tsai

‘Exploring the Formulation and Implementation of Local-level Spatial Plans in Taiwan’ 
Supervisors: Dr Chia-Lin Chen, Dr Olivier Sykes
Description: The spatial planning system has a profound and far-reaching impact on national development, shaping everything from economic growth to environmental sustainability. In response, some countries are adjusting their systems by decentralizing authority to local governments, allowing them to tailor spatial plans to local needs while enhancing administrative efficiency. This shift has sparked widespread discussions among stakeholders. Through an in-depth analysis of the evolving system, I hope to provide practical insights or suggestions for the development of spatial planning theory and potential future reforms in other countries.

Zihao Wang

'Relationship between land value capture and air quality in China' 
Supervisors: Prof. Alex lord, Dr Richard Dunning, Dr Yuan Shi
Description: - Land is a major source of extra-budgetary revenue and an important tool for driving economic development for local governments in China. In addition, China faces the challenge of air pollution. This research therefore focuses on exploring exogenous variables such as air quality, has a significant impact on land values and correspondingly represents an economic case for investment in the environment, such as through initiatives to improve air quality.  Email Zihao

Ziru Liu

'The Changing Relationship between Local Government and Residents in Urban Village Redevelopment in China' 
Supervisors: Dr. Sebastian Dembski, Dr. Olivier Sykes, Dr. Shih-yang Kao (XJTLU)
Description: This study aims to investigate the different roles of the local state in the redevelopment of urban villages in the urban fringe of Chinese cities to understand the interaction between the government, developer, and villagers. This study will focus on how the forced demolition projects were implemented, which actors were involved, and who the beneficiaries via comparing cases for which some local state acted as administrator and some acted as facilitator. In addition, this study aims to explain why the government choose one way to solve the resistance over others as well as the consequences and long-term impacts of the strategies used by the government. - Email Ziru