PhD in Urban Studies - The Bartlett School of Planning (UCL)

Research

My research profile lies in the intersections between urban planning and urban design.
Between 2005 and 2010 I developed research on urban informality, social housing and local development. Since 2012 my interests have been centred on the explorations of contemporary patterns of urban growth and change, urban sprawl and suburbanisation, particularly focused on the implications of 'Interstitial Spaces' and their role in restructuring city-regions.

My research scope has covered metropolitan areas in Chile, UK, and New Zealand. I have been specifically focused on:

(1) Urban sprawl and emerging patterns of suburbanisation, peri-urbanisation, (post)suburban growth and/or decline,
(2) Suburban infrastructure and transformations of fringe/belt areas, suburban rurality, urban-rural transects,
(3) Planning and design models of suburban regeneration and retrofit,
(4) Interstitial spaces, vacant lands, green/white/grey/blue infrastructure, leftover spaces, boundary areas and suburban politics and planning.
 

Teaching

My teaching focuses on planning policy, urban design theory, and contemporary planning and design practice. I am currently teaching in the areas of Independent Research and Spatial Planning focused on the institutional and policy context of planning practice in the UK at Queen's University Belfast (https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/persons/cristian-silva).