My first career was in journalism, working in local newspapers and then in specialist magazines. In 1998 I co-founded the regeneration journal New Start, where I was editorial director until 2012. The magazine survived the financial crash in 2008, but not the austerity that followed. From 2006 until 2022 I worked as director of the research consultancy Urban Pollinators, and from 2020 until August 2026 as a senior research fellow at Sheffield Hallam University. I’m also on LinkedIn.
I wrote a book, How to Save Our Town Centres, which grew out of the crisis of confidence that followed the 2008 financial crash and the subsequent recession. It set out an alternative agenda for the future of our towns and cities which, it’s fair to say, wasn’t welcomed by people who think our town centres should be filled with bigger and shinier shops and bigger and shinier property projects. An edited collection, Urban Crisis, Urban Hope, was published by Anthem Press in 2020. This was a joint project with Professor Rowland Atkinson at the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the University of Sheffield. In 2023 another edited collection, Reframing the Civic University, was published by Palgrave Macmillan, addressing the need for universities to make a serious contribution to the wellbeing of their local communities.
Urban Pollinators also helped to publish and crowdfund Incredible! Plant Veg, Grow a Revolution. Written by Joanna Dobson with Pam Warhurst, it tells the story of the inspiring Incredible Edible movement that started in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, and is encouraging people worldwide to rethink local food systems.
After completing a doctoral study of transitions to a low carbon society and institutional change with the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR) at Sheffield Hallam University, I spent two years supporting the Improving Wellbeing through Urban Nature project at the Department of Landscape at the University of Sheffield.
From 2020 to 2026 I was a senior research fellow at CRESR, and I continue to be connected with the centre as an emeritus fellow. I’ve been involved in a range of research and evaluation projects: details of recent work can be seen here. Links to journal articles and so on are on my Orcid profile and at Researchgate.
Between 2016 and 2020 I was a trustee of the Sheffield-based charity Baby Basics, which provides essential support to new parents who are vulnerable or destitute, including asylum seekers, homeless people and families escaping abuse. I was previously a trustee of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies for several years.