Prof. V. Nadin

I joined the Department of Urbanism in January 2008 as full-time Professor of Spatial Planning and Strategy, coming from the Department of Planning and Architecture at the University of the West of England. I lead the spatial planning chair and the Randstad research programme which involves the Urban and Regional Development Group of the OTB Research Institute (led by Professor Wil Zonneveld). I am also the research director for the Department and member of the Faculty Research Council. In 2010 I was a visiting professor at the National Taipei University, and visiting academic at the National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan. In 2007 I was visiting professor at the Institute of Environmental Planning, Leibniz University, Hannover and visiting research fellow at the OTB Research Centre. My career has been mostly in teaching and research but I started out in local government and have acted as consultant to many national and international clients. I spend much of my time working with PhD candidates, supporting research bids and helping with publications, though I am also involved in teaching, especially the graduation studios led by the Spatial Planning Chair on Complex Cities and Urban Regeneration and the European Masters in Urbanism.

TU Delft has a strong position in research and education on spatial planning and we are getting stronger.  I am keen to build on the advantage of our multinational staff (representing more than 20 countries) to develop our expertise in comparative planning systems and policies around the world. Although we need to be aware of the methodological and ethical problems of exporting ideas about planning, there is great benefit in collaborating with colleagues in other countries and learning from other places. We will also continue to strengthen our research and education in understanding the performance of metropolitan spatial structures, especially complex urban regions like the Randstad; the governance role of spatial planning and regional design in the Netherlands and elsewhere; and urban development and territorial management in developing regions in Asia and Latin America.

I am joint author (with the late Barry Cullingworth) of the leading textbook: Town and Country Planning in the UK (Edition 14, 2006, Routledge); co-author of European Spatial Planning and Territorial Cooperation (Febuary 2010, Routledge, with Stefanie Dühr and Claire Colomb); and editor-in-chief of the Routledge/Taylor and Francis international peer reviewed journal Planning Practice and Research. I am on the editorial boards of Town Planning Review (Liverpool University), Disp  (ETH, Zurich) and Ciudad y Territorio - Estudios Territoriales (Madrid).

I have supervised seven completed PhDs (one MPhil), examined thirteen, and I am currently promoting nine PhD candidates. Over the last 12 years I have been invited to present more than 50 papers to international conferences in 27 countries and have received sponsorship from numerous international bodies including the OECD, UNESCO UNECE, and others. I am or have been a panel member for the Core Programme of the Luxembourg National Research Funds, advisor to the European Union of Developers and House Builders, and referee for the UK research councils. I am currently external examiner at University College Dublin and was examiner previously at the universities of Liverpool, Cardiff, Strathclyde, Malta, West of England, Westminster and Wales at Swansea. I have been a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute’s (RTPI) examination and accreditation panels and quality assurance panel member at the universities of Westminster, Queen’s Belfast, Oxford Brookes, Sheffield, South Bank and Coventry.

• 1982 BA (Hons) Urban and Regional Planning (Sandwich) Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Coventry (Lanchester) Polytechnic [Royal Town Planning Institute School Prize]
• 1984 Elected to Full Membership of the UK Royal Town Planning Institute.

•         2008-on Full-time Professor of Spatial Planning and Strategy, Department of Urbanism, Delft University of Technology; research director, Department of Urbanism and leader of the Randstad Research Centre for Spatial Planning and Regional Design.
•         2007-2008 Professor of Town and Country Planning; 1996-2007 Reader, Faculty of the Built Environment, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. Director of the UWE Centre for Environment and Planning and University Business Fellow
•         1989-96  Chesterton Principal Lecturer, 1988-89 Senior Lecturer in Town Planning; Birmingham School of Planning, Birmingham City University (formerly Birmingham Polytechnic)
•         1985-1987 Lecturer in Town Planning, Department of Urban Planning, Leeds Metropolitan University (formerly Leeds Polytechnic)

My research and teaching background is on European Spatial Planning (the role of the EU in territorial management) and European comparative planning systems and policies. I also continue to work on town and country planning in the UK and planning and environmental sustainability. With the help of colleagues, I am widening my interests to embrace planning systems and approaches to territorial management in other parts of the world. 

My recent research projects include the EU 7^th Framework project Rufus (led by Leibniz University Hannover) on rural development in Europe, and an international comparison of housing and planning systems for the UK Housing and Planning Advice Unit (led by De Montfort University, UK).  I led the preparation of the EU Compendium of Spatial Planning Systems and Policies (1997); the EU Framework project SPECTRA: Sustainability and Spatial Planning (1997-2000); with colleagues, the Spatial Vision for North West Europe (2001); and numerous other research projects on cross-national comparisons of planning, subsidiarity and small towns. I played a key role in the research on Spatial Planning in Practice (2005-06) for the UK government and other international projects on demography, polycentricity and development planning. In 2006-07 I led the design of a new curriculum for a web-based masters degree in spatial planning at UWE for the UK government.