Biography
Dr Robert Cowley joined the Department of Geography in 2015. His research interests relate to visions of the urban future, and the processes through which these are implemented in particular places.
He worked as Project Coordinator on a three-year research project 'Smart Eco-Cities: A Comparative Study of Europe and China'. Previously, he was Network Coordinator for the Leverhulme Trust-funded international research consortium 'Tomorrow’s City Today – an International Comparison of Eco-City Frameworks'.
More recently, he has led research exploring governance questions around future settlements on Mars, and is currently working with Westminster City Council to facilitate ongoing collaboration with King’s on local urban sustainability initiatives (as part of a five-country project led by the State University of Portland).
His PhD thesis, completed at the University of Westminster, explored the governance of ‘eco-city’ initiatives around the world. Before that, he took an MA in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Westminster (2010). His first degree was in Modern Languages and Literature (Russian and Modern Greek) at the University of Oxford.
Research
- ‘Smart’ and ‘eco’ urban initiatives
- Governance of urban sustainability
- Publics and public space
- Sustainability transitions
- Urban experiments
Robert’s research focuses on the proliferation of diverse ‘eco’ and ‘smart’ urban initiatives and policies around the world. In particular, he is interested in the way that these ideas travel and are translated into varying practices in different settings, the conceptual and practical tensions between the ‘eco’ and the ‘smart’, and the significance of these experimental approaches to urban development for traditional modes of planning.
Teaching
Undergraduate
- 4SSG1008 Geography Tutorials: Critical Thinking and Techniques
- 4SSG1016 Geography in Action
- 5SSG2058 Urban Geography: Exploring the City
- 5SSG2065 Cities and Citizenship
Postgraduate
- 7SSG5002 Practising Social Research
- 7SSG5179 Understanding the Sustainable City
- 7SSG5180 Governing the Sustainable City
Further details
See Robert's research profile
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Cowley, R. & Joss, S., 30 Nov 2020, (E-pub ahead of print) In: JOURNAL OF URBAN AFFAIRS. 40 p. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2020.1828903
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Cowley, R., 3 Jul 2019, In: Theology and Science. 17, 3, p. 332-340 9 p. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2019.1632521
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Cowley, R. & Caprotti, F., 10 May 2019, In: Environment and Planning D: Society and Space. 37, 3, p. 428–448 21 p. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1177/0263775818787506
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Cowley, R. M., 29 Jan 2019, Digital Objects, Digital Subjects: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Capitalism, Labour and Politics in the Age of Big Data. London: University of Westminster, p. 95-100 Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
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Caprotti, F. & Cowley, R. M., 10 Jan 2019, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Transactions of the institute of british geographers. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12284
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Cowley, R. M., Jan 2019, King's College London. 10 p. Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Cowley, R., Caprotti, F., Ferretti, M. & Zhong, C., 12 Sep 2018, Inside Smart Cities : Place, Politics and Urban Innovation. Karvonen, A., Cugurullo, F. & Caprotti, F. (eds.). London: Routledge, p. 45-64 20 p. Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
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Cowley, R. M., 10 Apr 2018, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Palgrave Communications. 4, 4 p., 41. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-018-0103-y
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Joss, S. & Cowley, R. M., 2018, Retrofitting Cities for Tomorrow's World. Eames, M., Dixon, T., Hunt, M. & Lannon, S. (eds.). WILEY-BLACKWELL, p. 227-246 20 p. Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
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Cowley, R. M. & Phillips, J. L. H., 2018, 8 p. University of Exeter (SMART-ECO project). Research output: Other contribution