Professor Beth Perry
PhD, MA, BA (Hons)
Faculty of Social Sciences
Director of Urban Institute
Full contact details
Faculty of Social Sciences
Interdisciplinary Centre of the Social Sciences (ICOSS)
219 Portobello
Sheffield
S1 4DP
- Profile
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I am currently Director of the Urban Institute and a Professor of Urban Knowledge Governance. I also lead the Urban Institute’s theme.
During this time (2016-2020), I was the UK lead for the Mistra Urban Futures centre, setting up and delivering a across Greater Manchester and Sheffield to develop co-production projects around critical urban justice questions. This involved working in close collaboration with city partners in Sweden, Kenya and South Africa.
Prior to joining the University of Sheffield as a Professorial Fellow in 2016, I worked through research assistant, fellow, reader and director positions within the Centre for Sustainable Urban Regional Futures at the University of Salford.
- Qualifications
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BA (Hons) European Studies and Modern Languages (University of Manchester)
MA European Integration (University of Bradford)
PhD Rethinking and rescaling science (University of Salford)
- Research interests
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As an undisciplined urbanist I sit at the intersections of several disciplines and am motivated by a concern to both understand and chart processes of urban transformation, and to mobilise methodologies to contribute to the possibility of more just and sustainable urban futures.
My research is underpinned by a concern with urban governance, justice and transformation, which has focused around the concept and practice of co-production. I understand the co-productive turn as reconfiguring relations between the local state and civil society, between and within grassroots groups and organisations, and within and outside academia. This is informed by a long-standing concern with the politics of knowledge production and the epistemic injustices, exclusions and violences that result. My research seeks to work with and through critique to contribute to alternative epistemologies, practices and outcomes.
I am particularly interested in how these concerns land in relation to the socio-cultural and spatial dimensions of urban justice. A substantive focus in my work has been on cultural participation, democracy and heritage; participatory democracy within the city and the potential of digital technologies; and ‘food’ as connective tissue between the cultural, spatial, environmental and economic.
I seek to contribute to epistemological and methodological debates through a reflexive engagement with the tensions, binaries, strategies and tactics of critical yet engaged urban research, in the context of increasingly politicised and neo-liberal contexts of higher education. This has given me experience in designing large-scale, collaborative programmes and projects, deploying creative and participatory methods when appropriate, and communicating with different audiences.
My work has spanned different scales and contexts – from the neighbourhood, to the district, the city and the city-region, in Greater Manchester, Sheffield, Cape Town, Kisumu and Gothenburg.
- Publications
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Books
- Social Research: Issues, Methods and Process. London: MGraw-Hill.
- Transdisciplinary Knowledge Co-Production for Sustainable Cities A Guide for Sustainable Cities.
- Cities and the Knowledge Economy: Promise, Politics and Possibilities. Routledge.
- . Routledge.
- Reflexivity: The Essential Guide. London: SAGE Publications.
- Social Research and Reflexivity. SAGE.
Edited books
- Cultural Intermediaries Connecting Communities: Revisiting Approaches to Cultural Engagement:. Bristol: Policy Press.
Journal articles
- . Urban Geography, 44(3), 558-561.
- . Methodological Innovations.
- . Futures, 142.
- . Regional Studies.
- . Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, 3.
- . International Journal of Social Research Methodology.
- . City, 25(1-2), 129-170.
- . International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 45(3), 555-571.
- . Journal of Chinese Governance, 4(2), 123-143.
- . International Journal of Heritage Studies, 26(6), 603-618.
- . Social Policy & Administration, 53(2), 265-278.
- . Nature, 562(7725), 32-33.
- . Politics and Governance, 6(1).
- . Politics and Governance, 6(1), 145-145.
- . Local Environment, 22(S1), 23-35.
- . Local Environment.
- . Environment and Urbanization, 28(1), 49-63.
- . European Journal of Cultural Studies, 18(6), 724-740.
- . Policy Futures in Education, 11(5), 505-514.
- . Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit, 26(8), 715-720.
- . Built Environment, 37(3), 352-367.
- . Built Environment, 37(3), 245-259.
- . International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, 1(1/2), 6-6.
- Excellence, relevance and the university: The missing middle in socio-economic engagement. Sociologia, Problemas e Praticas, 56, 105-128.
- . Regional Studies, 41(8), 1051-1067.
- . Regional Studies, 41(8), 1069-1084.
- . Regional Studies, 41(8), 1039-1050.
- . Social Epistemology, 20(3-4), 259-282.
- . Social Epistemology, 20(3-4), 201-219.
- . Sociology, 39(2), 343-370.
- . Higher Education Management and Policy, 17(2), 29-41.
- . International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 28(1), 212-223.
- . International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 26(4), 844-853.
- . Planning Theory.
Chapters
- Citizen participation in public management: Activated, empowered, responsibilised, abandoned?, Research Handbook on Public Management and COVID-19 (pp. 99-111).
- Policy making at the local level In Teles F (Ed.), Handbook on Local and Regional Governance (pp. 255-268). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
- Policy making at the local level, Handbook on Local and Regional Governance (pp. 253-266).
- Community-based organizations in Kisumu: A necessary but not sufficient condition for managing polyvalent heritage landscapes In Pettenati G (Ed.), Landscape as Heritage: International Critical Perspectives (pp. 40-40). Oxon: Routledge.
- In Loeffler E & Bovaird T (Ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Co-production of Public Services and Outcomes (pp. 669-691). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Cultural heritage and improvised music in European festivals, A Research Agenda for Heritage Planning: Perspectives from Europe (pp. 163-173).
- , The Palgrave Handbook of Co-Production of Public Services and Outcomes (pp. 669-691). Springer International Publishing
- Participatory Cities from the 'Outside In': The Value of Comparative Learning In Simon D, Palmer H & Riise J (Ed.), Comparative Urban Research from Theory to Practice (pp. 133-154). Bristol: Policy Press.
- In Henneberry J (Ed.), Transience and Permanence in Urban Development (pp. 85-99). Wiley
- , The Experimental City (pp. 32-46). Routledge
- Cities, Universities and Urban Knowledge Exchange: Lessons from a Regional Experiment in the UK In Mercurio R (Ed.), Organizational Networks for Innovation Milan.
- , Bright Satanic Mills: Universities, Regional Development and the Knowledge Economy (pp. 25-37).
- , Making 21st Century Knowledge Complexes: Technopoles of the World Revisited (pp. 105-127).
- , Co-producing Knowledge for Sustainable Cities: Joining Forces for Change (pp. 98-122).
- , The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data
Analysis (pp. 109-122).
- , Retrofitting the Built Environment (pp. 7-19).
- , Production and Use of Urban Knowledge (pp. 151-167). Springer Netherlands
- Reflexivity and Data Analysis In Kaldis B (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Philosophy and the Social Sciences SAGE
- Achieving 'systemic' urban retrofit: A framework for action, RETROFITTING THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT (pp. 7-19).
- , University Engagement With Socially Excluded Communities (pp. 199-219). Springer Netherlands
- Translation, Insulation and Mediation: The Shifting Sands of University Life In Benneworth P (Ed.), University Engagement With Socially Excluded Communities Springer Science & Business Media
- External engagements and internal transformations: Universities, localities and regional development, Bright Satanic Mills: Universities, Regional Development and the Knowledge Economy (pp. 25-37).
- , Universities and Regional Development: A Critical Assessment of Tensions and Contradictions (pp. 105-123).
- , Knowledge-Based Urban Development (pp. 21-41). IGI Global
- Metropolitan regions in the face of the European dimension: Regimes, re-scaling or repositioning?, Metropolitan Governance and Spatial Planning: Comparative Case Studies of European City-Regions (pp. 20-38).
- , Sustaining Urban Networks: The Social Diffusion of Large Technical Systems (pp. 86-99).
- , Sustaining Urban Networks (pp. 64-80). Routledge
- , Knowledge-Based Urban Development IGI Global
Reports
- Realising Just Cities
- How can we govern differently? The promise and practice of co-production
- Social Research: Issues, Methods and Process. London: MGraw-Hill.
- Research group
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PhD Supervision
I currently supervise the following PhD students:
- Ana Mendez de Andes, Becoming Common of the Public (With Doina Petrescu, Department of Architecture)
- Jenny Patient, Trade Unions and Just Transition (with Stephen Connelly, Department of Urban Studies and Planning)
- Ryan Bellinson, Doing things differently: the promise and pitfalls of co-productive urban climate policy development in Greater Manchester, UK (with Aidan While)
I welcome applications for PhD research on topics related to my main interests above
- Grants
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- (World University Network)
- (British Academy)
- “An Even Better Arbourthorne”: rethinking the roles of schools in disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods (CIVA)
- (Mistra Urban Futures)
- (ESRC)
- (ESRC)
- Cultural Intermediation: Connecting Communities in the Creative Urban Economy (AHRC)
- Urban Sustainable Development Goals (Mistra Urban Futures)
- Putting Foodbanks Out of Business: Digital Transformations and Food Austerity (EPSRC)
- Building Science Regions in the European Research Area (ESRC)
- Making Science History: The Regionalisation of Science Policy (ESRC)
- Realising the Potential of Science Cities (Science Cities Consortium)
- Knowledge Capital: From Concept to Action (Contact Partnership)
- Teaching interests
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I have contributed guest lectures, seminars and training sessions to a number of departmental and Faculty-level courses and networks including:
- SMI613 Working Beyond Disciplines
- TRP626 Doctoral Training in Urban Studies and Planning
- Masters of Architecture Design Studio on Collaborative Production
- Early Career Researchers Urban Studies Network
- Action Research Peers Network
I have also guest lectured on courses at UK and European universities, including on sustainable development (University of Oxford), transdisciplinary research (University of Gothenburg), the governance of the cultural economy (University of Leeds), the engaged university (University College London) and cities and the knowledge economy (University of Lille).