Professor Rebecca Madgin
- Professor of Urban Studies (Urban Studies)
telephone:
0141 330 3847
email:
Rebecca.Madgin@glasgow.ac.uk
25 Bute Gardens, Room 117
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0323-8212Research interests
Rebecca re-joined Urban Studies at the University of Glasgow in January 2014 following an earlier period as an Urban Studies Foundation Research Fellow. Her research examines the emotional and economic values of heritage in the context of urban development and management. Her ESRC funded PhD focused on the role of industrial heritage in the process of place making and in particular how decisions concerning the demolition or re-use of historic buildings were made. Central to this was an understanding of how historic places were ascribed meaning and value during the process of urban regeneration from the 1970s to the early 2000s, and involved an in-depth analysis of community attachments to threatened historic spaces, a sense of place, and place marketing.
A focus on the meaning of place continued through funded projects which sought to examine place attachment in a number of case studies including de-industrial spaces and Brutalist buildings in Leicester, recreational spaces in Glasgow, historic places in London, rural villages in China, and the design of new buildings in Clydebank. This published work is complemented by the award-winning film ‘You Can’t Move History’ which was funded by the AHRC and was awarded Best Research Film, 2016. Rebecca’s current AHRC project continues this long-standing focus on place attachment and urban heritage by focusing on the relationship between urban change and attachment to historic places since the late twentieth century.
Rebecca has also maintained an interest in comparative urbanism since her PhD research on British and French cities, and has recently published a co-edited book on approaches to comparative and transnational urban history. Rebecca retains an active involvement with a number of planning and heritage organisations at the national and city levels in the UK, including the Editorial Board of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation's professional journal 'Context' She is also an Associate Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute.
Research groups
Grants
Funded Projects
Heritage Lottery Fund, Townscape Heritage Initiative: (£1.1m) ‘Living and Working in the Old Town’. Led by Leicester City Council with Dr Rebecca Madgin named as project partner.
Economic and Social Research Council: (£740,000) The Re-Making of Chinese Urban Neighbourhoods: Socio-Spatial Transformation and Access to Public Services (Co-I).
Arts and Humanities Research Council: (£184, 567) Why does the Past Matter: Emotional Attachments to the Historic Urban Environment (PI).
Arts and Humanities Research Council: You Can Make History: Extending and Developing Youth Engagement in Cultural Heritage (Follow-on funding) Member of Steering Group.
Recently Completed Projects
Arts and Humanities Research Council (£31,800), Learning from the Utopian City: An international network on alternative histories of India's urban futures' (Co-I):https://utopiancities.wordpress.com/
Arts and Humanities Research Council (£36,198) Sensory Cities: Researching, Representing and Curating Sensory-Emotional Landscapes of Urban Environments (Member of Steering Group): http://www.sensorycities.com/
Arts and Humanities Research Council (£55,000), 'You Can't Move History. You Can Secure the Future': Engaging Youth in Cultural Heritage (Co-I): http://www.youthandheritage.com/
Arts and Humanities Research Council (£515,000) Affective Digital Histories: Re-creating Britain's De-industrial Places, 1970s to the Present (Co-I): http://affectivedigitalhistories.org.uk/
Arts and Humanities Research Council (£102,000) ‘How Should Decisions about Heritage be Made? Co-designing a research project’. (Co-I) Project partners include Royal Commission of Ancient and Historic Monuments, Science Museum, National Centre for Co-coordinating Public Policy Engagement, Leicester City Council, Heritage Lottery Fund and local community heritage organisations: http://codesignheritage.wordpress.com/
Arts and Humanities Research Council(£250,000): ‘Archives, Assets and Audiences: New Modes to Engage Audiences with Archival Content and Heritage Sites’. (Co-I): http://archivestoassets.wordpress.com/
Arts and Humanities Research Council(£20,000): ‘Building Shared Heritages: Cultural Diversity in Leicester’ (Phase 1) (Co-I)
Arts and Humanities Research Council(£55,000) ‘Building and Enriching Shared Heritages’ (Phase 2) (Co-I)
Arts and Humanities Research Council, Cultural Engagement Fund (£10,000) ‘Valuing the Historic Core of Leicester’ (Project Manager)
JISC (£102,000): ‘Manufacturing Pasts: Industrial Change in Twentieth Century Britain’ with Prof Simon Gunn and Ben Wynne (University of Leicester): http://www2.le.ac.uk/library/about/projects/manufacturingpasts
Admiral (4,500): ‘History of Admiral Sportswear’. (PI)
Rebecca has also been funded by a number of public, private and voluntary sector organisations to evaluate government policies, organisational structures and development, housing, heritage and place attachment.
Supervision
Current PhD Students
Simon Sadinsky-Heisler (from September 2016) ‘Capturing and Engendering Notions of Place Attachment and Identity in the Process of Urban Regeneration: A Study of the Clyde Waterfront Regeneration Project in Glasgow’.
Taylor Sawyer (from September 2016) ‘The Role of Young People in Constructing Heritage: Examining De-industrialised Spaces in the UK. Taylor holds a College of Social Sciences PhD Scholarship from the University of Glasgow’.
Linda Shetabi 'Urban Conservation and Environmental Sustainability in Scottish Urban Planning Policy and Practice'. Linda holds a College of Social Sciences PhD Scholarship from the University of Glasgow.
Yang Wang 'Mapping Place Attachment: Towards a Psychological Approach to Historic Environment Conservation in Cities'. Yang holds an Urban Studies Foundation Scholarship.
Rebecca has also supervised PhD students in a variety of areas such as globalisation, the British New Towns, urban conservation, and architectural symbolism and would welcome students who wish to pursue doctoral research on:
- urban conservation
- place attachment
- cultural urban policy
- urban history
- Burrows, Erin
Monuments of Glasgow: Shaping Public Identity, Cultural Memory and Social Cohesion - Maurer, Olivia
Capturing Felt Experience of Place
Teaching
Course Convenor
Postgraduate
- URBAN5098: Urban Design and Development (Joint Graduate School Course with Nankai University)
Undergraduate
- SPS3003: Researching the City: Developing an Urban Profile
Teaching Contributions
Postgraduate
- URBAN5050: Urban Design Policy and Practice
- URBAN5041: Regenerating Cities
- URBAN5087/95: Housing, Inequality and Society
Undergraduate
- PUBPOL1011: Understanding Glasgow
- PUBPOL2010: Perspectives on Public Policy: Conflicting Ideas and Changing Agendas
Additional information
- Research Group Leader: Governance, Space, and Place (Urban Studies)
- Editorial Board Member of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation’s professional journal, Context: http://www.ihbc.org.uk/publications/context/context.html
- Associate Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
- Conference Chair for the Urban History Group: http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/urbanhistory/uhg
- Member of the Board of Directors for the Urban History Association
- UK Academic Lead for the 2014/15 Arts and Humanities Research Council and Indian Research Council for Historical Research (Newton Fund) initiative entitled 'Cultural Heritage and Rapid Urbanisation in India'.