In addition to the 5 subject research groups in the School of Architecture and the Built Environment (SABE), the common theme of ‘Global Identities’ is one around which researchers from different departments within the school are working on similar interests.

‘Global Identities’ covers a wide variety of subjects that are linked to the impact of globalisation on the built environment across the world. This involves, for instance, investigations into architectural design, urban form and infrastructure, development policies in poorer countries, cultural tourism, international transport logistics, etc.

The purpose of the ‘Global Identities’ cluster is to facilitate links between researchers in different subject areas and use these inter-disciplinary links to organise a series of externally-facing activities, which in turn can help to publicise researchers’ work and also bring in more scholars and practitioners from outside to join with ongoing research projects in SABE. In particular, a series of conferences and research projects have emerged from this inter-departmental synergy within SABE linked by the theme of ‘Global Identities’. These initiatives include:

• December 2008-2010:   Kaduna Master Plan Review, Nigeria. This study, commissioned by the Kaduna State Government, has revisited a previous master-plan for the city by Max Lock and Partners from 1967. The fieldwork and GIS-based research for the new study was carried out by Dr Mike Theis (Urban Research Group), Tony Lloyd-Jones (Urban Reserach Group) and various Nigerian partners, with specialist input from Professor Peter White (Transport Research Group).

• January 2009:    World Tourism Cities: Developing tourism off the beaten track.  London: Routledge. This major book about the current and future impact of new forms of tourism on major world cities provides the first synoptic account of how globalising forces are enabling large cities to develop alternative tourist areas away from the more typical attractions. It was co-edited by Professor Robert Maitland (Tourism Research Group) and Professor Peter Newman (Urban Research Group), and the cities covered included those in the USA, Australia, France, Germany and Britain.  A World Tourism Cities network is being developed to provide a focus for international academic debate.
  

• October 2009:    The University of Westminster was selected by UN-Habitat as the latter’s first-ever partner university in the UK. This link was developed primarily by Tony Lloyd-Jones (Urban Research Group), but working in close partnership with the Dean of SABE, Professor Jeremy Till. It builds on existing international development work done for years in the School through the Max Lock Centre, and will be supported by the recent appointments of Mike Mutter (Urban) as Visiting Professor and Deljana Iossifova (Architecture) as Research Fellow.
  

• October 2009:    ‘Human Habitation: Architecture, Settlement and Cultural Identity in the Persian Gulf Region’, a major international conference held at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London and organised by the University of Westminster in conjunction with UN-Habitat and the International Art and Architecture Research Association (Iran). It was organised by Professor Murray Fraser (Architecture) and Nasser Golzari (Architecture), and amongst the speaker/participants from Britain and overseas were Peter Barber (Architecture), Dr Tanis Hinchcliffe (Architecture), Tony Lloyd-Jones (Urban), Professor Geoff Petts (Vice-Chancellor), Abeer Al-Saud (Architecture) and Professor Jeremy Till (Dean). A major book is being produced from this event published by IAARA.
  

• June 2010:    ‘Emerging Landscapes’, a major interdisciplinary conference held at the University of Westminster to look at new formations of urbanism and landscape being created by globalisation, and also looking at how these landscapes are simultaneously being created/recorded by representative techniques such as film and photography. The event was organised by Dr Davide Deriu (Architecture) and Dr Krystallia Kamvasinou (Urban) and Dr Eugenie Shinkle from the Department of Film and Photography, School of Media Art and Design, at the University of Westminster. Amongst the speakers/participants from Britain and overseas were Dr John Bold (Architecture), Adam Eldridge (Urban),  Professor Murray Fraser (Architecture), Jon Goodbun (Architecture), Constance Lau (Architecture), Douglas Spencer (Architecture), and a broad range of participants from the School of Media Art and Design. For more details, see http://www.emerginglandscapes.org.uk
  

• October 2011:    ‘Creative Spaces in Palestine’, a major one-day international symposium to be held at the Royal Institute of British Architects to discuss the positive creative opportunities even within the current Israeli/Palestinian conflict for cultural practices such as architecture, urbanism, tourism, art, film, photography, etc. It is being organised by Professor Murray Fraser (Architecture), Nasser Golzari (Architecture) and Yara Sharif (Architecture), in discussion with Professor Robert Maitland (Tourism). The final line-up of internal and external speakers is currently being finalised, but it will include researchers from both the Architecture and Tourism research groups.
  

• May 2012:    ‘The Boundaries of Europe’, a major international conference to organised around issues to do with the complex interface between Eastern Europe/Turkey/Middle East, with particular reference to the ambiguities and slippages of any implied boundaries of cultural regions. The event will be organised by Dr Davide Deriu in collaboration with Professor Mike Browne (Transport), Tony Lloyd Jones (Urban) and Professor Robert Maitland (Tourism). The line-up of speakers is still to be agreed, but it will include researchers across all of the research groups in SABE.

HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL STUDIES (Architecture Research Group)

MAX LOCK CENTRE (Urban Research Group)


RELATED TOURISM RESEARCH (Tourism Research Group)

RELATED TRANSPORT RESEARCH (Transport Research Group)