Books

Urban Crisis, Urban Hope

Urban Crisis, Urban Hope sets out more than 50 practical ideas to make our cities fairer. At a time of multiple crises of hunger, homelessness, anxiety and environmental degradation, contributors offer a timely critique of and alternative to current policies. Urban Crisis, Urban Hope is edited by Julian Dobson and Rowland Atkinson and available from Anthem Press from June 2020.

How to Save Our Town Centres

How to Save Our Town Centres sets out a radical agenda for the future of Britain’s high streets. Published by Policy Press in 2015, it remains relevant as an alternative vision for town centres designed to serve people before profits.

“It’s brilliant. I recommend it hugely. Buy copies for everyone on your local council.” Rob Hopkins, co-founder of Transition Network

Naturally Challenged

Naturally Challenged, published by Springer Nature in September 2020, is a collection of academic research and thinking on urban green spaces, edited by Nicola Dempsey and Julian Dobson. Contributors challenge simplistic ‘nature is good for you’ tropes by examining some of the contexts in which new relationships between humans and their natural urban environments are being worked out.

Reframing the Civic University: An agenda for impact

This book, compiled and edited by Julian Dobson and Ed Ferrari and published in February 2023, addresses the need for a comprehensive reappraisal of what it means to be a ‘civic university’. For two decades the ‘civic’ agenda has been driven by a concern with economic impact and regional economic development. While recognising the importance of these aspects of universities’ civic influence, there is a need to more comprehensively outline how universities can and should make a difference across a wide spectrum of place-based activity, against a background of intensifying global social and environmental challenges. Rooted in collaborative work by the Civic University Network and community-based partners, the book provides a clear logical framework that universities and their partners can use to examine the extent of their civic activities, but also challenges them to use that framework as a starting point for deeper reflection and engagement.