Kent Interdisciplinary Centre for Spatial Studies

Catchment Futures

The purpose of Catchment Futures is to explore the consequences of land use on the Medway water environment. Working with stakeholders in this catchment, the project aims to build a rich understanding of the factors that drive change in the catchment and their implications for the future of water. An important part of this project is exploring the views of key stakeholders followed by modelling how the ecology of the catchment can support viable water futures.

The project is led by researchers at the Kent Interdisciplinary Centre for Spatial Studies working in conjunction with Southern Water – the project’s sponsor – and the Medway Catchment Partnership, a key beneficiary of this research. More generally, the research informs the development of integrated approaches to shaping the future of water catchments.

Research Team

  • Dr Joseph Tzanopoulos
  • Dr Rob Fish
  • Dr Dimitris Bormpoudakis
  • Dr Khalil Avi

Contact: kavb@kent.ac.uk

 

MAPURBAN Project Summary:

MAPURBAN brings to light differences in access to urban resources across the socio-economic and ethnic profile of three major cities. By comparing migrant arrival and settlement in Stockholm, Berlin and London, the project integrates existing data on spatial inequality and urban segregation, and shows how these affect migrant mobility and integration. Taken together, this is argued to have an impact on newly arriving people’s access to public urban resources. MAPURBAN uses interdisciplinary multinational research findings to produce new knowledge to inform government strategies towards urban migration, re-framing immigrant integration as a multi-scalar (national, urban and local) process that contributes to sustainable urban development.

MAPURBAN key objectives:

  1. Objective (I) to conduct a multi-scale analysis of migrant access to urban infrastructures to advance knowledge for inclusive and sustainable planning and policy-making.
  2. Objective (II) to construct a multidisciplinary comparative policy evaluation to enhance measures for overcoming barriers to migrant accessibility and mobility, with a focus on the translation of academic knowledge to policy makers.
  3. Objective (III) to work with newly arrived migrants to co-produce readings of their own perceptions of the urban environment.

Research Team

Dr. Jonathan Rock Rokem, University of Kent

Prof. Laura Vaughan and Dr. Kimon Krenz, University College London

Prof. Susanne Wessendorf, Coventry University

Head of subproject FU Berlin: Prof. Dr Antonie Schmiz

Berlin Research Coordinator: Sylvana Jahre

Prof. Ann Legeby and Elin Strand, KTH Architecture.

Stockholm local actors: TRF (Regional Planning Authority), the City of Sundbyberg, and Marabouparken Art Centre.