UDP Travel Bursary 2026: Isaac Auger

This year, the School of the Built Environment offered students (studying Urban Design) the opportunity to apply for an Urban Design and Planning Travel Bursary to help cover travel costs for their Dissertation fieldwork. Three students were awarded the UDP Travel Bursary and here is the report on how the bursary was used by Isaac Auger... 

Translating Historic Urban Principles into Contemporary Housing: A Comparative Study of Spatial Structure and Urban Character in Saffron Walden.

Funding from the UDP Travel Bursary allowed me to undertake multiple fieldwork trips to Saffron Walden. These trips involved a spatial and morphological analysis of my three case study sites, photographic documentation, street and block analysis, a structured visual preference survey, and a number of semi structured interviews. My research focuses on a comparative analysis between the historic town centre and two contemporary residential developments, evaluating how urban principles have been translated into modern housing schemes.

Being awarded the UDP Travel Bursary has enabled me to complete necessary fieldwork and will help to ensure that my research project is of high academic quality. I am sincerely grateful for this support.

For more information about our courses in Urban Design, click below:

BA Sustainable Urban Design and Planning

MA/PGD Urban Design

UDP Travel Bursary 2026: Varvara Barbinova

This year, the School of the Built Environment offered students (studying Urban Design) the opportunity to apply for an Urban Design and Planning Travel Bursary to help cover travel costs for their Dissertation fieldwork. Three students were awarded the UDP Travel Bursary and here is the second report on how the bursary was used from Varvara Barbinova... 

The UDP Travel Bursary gave me the opportunity to undertake fieldwork in Margate, the case study for my undergraduate research project exploring how culture-led regeneration shapes the everyday inclusion of young adults and affects their sense of belonging. Margate is a brilliant example of neighbourhood regeneration driven by the establishment of the Turner Contemporary gallery, and visiting the town gave me valuable insights into the everyday life of local residents, their engagement with the cultural institution and their perceptions of the social and economic transformations that have taken place over the past 15 years.

I was able to visit Margate twice for my research. The first trip was primarily dedicated to conducting interviews, while the second focused on on-street observations of the town’s public spaces. I explored different parts of Margate, walking through the places people use most frequently and speaking to residents who were willing to share their experience. I also documented the physical characteristics of public spaces to evaluate how the regenerated areas function in practice.

The most impactful part of the experience was the importance of engaging directly with the community. Before the fieldwork, I faced a lot of rejections and ghosting while trying to recruit participants online. People were not engaging with a stranger on the internet, and I almost lost hope. However, once I arrived in Margate, I met so many wonderful people who were happy to learn about my research, share their experience, and become part of my project.

The bursary also strengthened my confidence as an independent researcher. Organising interviews in person, conducting field observations, meeting local residents and discussing my research pushed me outside of my comfort zone. But I am grateful that I had this opportunity, as I enjoyed the experience much more than if I had simply stayed behind my laptop.

I am extremely grateful that I was given this support that made this research possible.

For more information about our courses in Urban Design, click below:

BA Sustainable Urban Design and Planning

MA/PGD Urban Design

UDP Travel Bursary 2026: Rehma Saeed

This year, the School of the Built Environment offered students (studying Urban Design) the opportunity to apply for an Urban Design and Planning Travel Bursary to help cover travel costs for their Dissertation fieldwork. Three students were awarded the UDP Travel Bursary and here is the first report on how the bursary was used from Rehma Saeed... 

I applied for the UDP Travel Grant 2026 because I believed it would enhance my dissertation research on the importance of climate-adaptive urbanism in the UK, with a specific focus on London, by allowing for trips to London to conduct site visits and interviews in person rather than relying solely on secondary sources.

I was awarded £90 towards this travel. While the panel initially suggested some interviews could be conducted online, I discussed this with my supervisor, and we agreed that an in-person site visit and interview would provide stronger and more contextually grounded data.

My interview with Kristen Guida (Head of Climate and Community Resilience at GLA).

The site visit allowed me to observe conditions directly relevant to my research, including areas of London affected by overheating and surface-water flooding. This gave practical context to the risks discussed in policy documents and the London Climate Resilience Review and clarified how climate vulnerability is unevenly distributed across the city.

The interview component was central to the value of this trip. I met with the Head of Community and Climate Resilience at the Greater London Authority at her office, and she provided practitioner insight that would not have been accessible through documentary analysis alone. Visiting her office was valuable not only for the research itself but also as a student in this field; being shown around and seeing how things operate in practice was an experience I genuinely cherish.

Her perspective on the institutional and cultural barriers to climate adaptation in Britain has directly informed several arguments in my analysis chapters. Overall, the bursary enhanced my data collection process and was a genuinely valuable addition to my research, giving it a level of practical grounding that secondary sources alone could not have provided and I am grateful for this opportunity.

Dense tarmac and concrete surfaces with minimal tree canopy,
illustrating urban heat island (UHI) vulnerability
directly outside the interview site at Palestra House.

Riverside walkway near Blackfriars Bridge consisting of a tree-lined path
and vertical greening on adjacent buildings, contrasting with the
tarmac-dominated conditions on Blackfriars Road and illustrating
small-scale mitigation efforts within London’s blue-green infrastructure strategy.

For more information about our courses in Urban Design, click below:

BA Sustainable Urban Design and Planning

MA/PGD Urban Design

The Jewellery Quarter: field trip to Birmingham

Last Thursday a group of first year students on the BA Urban Design, Planning and Development went on a field trip to the Jewellery Quarter (JQ) in Birmingham to find out more about the history, design, use and future development of the area - the area is unique with over 200 listed buildings. The field trip was based at The Hive, a mixed use development in the JQ with plenty of its own history...

As well as being steeped in history the area is very photogenic, so here is the story in photos. Click on the blue links for more information...

At Snow Hill station

On the way to the Jewellery Quarter

Arriving at The Hive...

...for a series of presentations about the JQ Townscape Heritage Project and 
the JQ Neighbourhood Plan which is on Instagram @jqplan

...and a tour of The Hive

the bakery

the basement (under development)

the wormery - providing compost for the rooftop urban microfarm

the old safe

inside the safe

basement structures

the Gallery...

...where we were shown round the Fading City exhibition by one of the artists @traceyathorne 
the exhibition also features work by artist and urban explorer @jemma_gunning_printmaker

And the tour of the JQ...

For a look inside visit 28DL Urban Exploration

The Alabaster & Wilson building - take a look inside...

...and at the history of jewellery making in the building

up on Legge Lane

take a look at the proposed development for Legge Lane

Victoria Works

Unity Works

The Button Factory - now a pub/restaurant

The Chamberlain Clock - soon to be restored

The Big Peg - built in the 1960s to house jewellery workshops and now office space

 

Unity Works again - plans for development fell through and then this happened

Thomas Fattorini - established in 1827 and still a family owned business today

Doors of the JQ...more doors here

For more information about Urban Design courses at Oxford Brookes, take a look here:

MA Urban Design
BA Urban Design, Planning and Development

Foundation in the Built Environment: London 2019

The School of the Built Environment offers a Foundation in the Built Environment (FBE). The course is designed to develop understanding and problem-solving skills in areas which are fundamental to the environment, design and development of cities. Students are introduced to a variety of subjects that, with the correct choice of modules, will allow progress to one of the undergraduate degree courses offered within the School of the Built Environment.

The FBE students went on a field trip to London on 24 October 2019. The field trip is part of the module 'Integrative and Contextual Studies' and allows students to explore the nature of the built environment and the parties and processes involved in building and maintaining it, as well as the bodies and factors influencing design and development. Photos by Elaine Tooke.

The first stop was The City Centre for a talk
by New London Architecture based around the City of London model.

The students had a talk about the City of London commercial market
by Harvey James from BNP Paribas (and a graduate of Oxford Brookes)

The students went on a self-guided tour of the City of London (in the pouring rain)

The students got back on the coach and went to Grand Union: Alperton (Wembley)
for a tour of show apartments...

 ...and a talk from St George (part of the Berkeley Group) about the Grand Union development.

Grand Union in Alperton (close to Wembley) is a mixed-use development by St George. This is an exciting scheme comprising residential, leisure, commercial and retail which takes advantage of its proximity on the Grand Union Canal and fast access into Central London.

For more information about the Built Environment Foundation take a look at our website:

Built Environment Foundation

Visitors from the University of Waterloo (Canada)

The School of the Built Environment at Oxford Brookes University has a link with the School of Planning at the University of Waterloo (Canada) that was first established 38 years ago. This link supports an academic study tour and student exchange program.

In April/May 2019 a group of final year undergraduate students from the University of Waterloo visited the UK (including Oxford) to take part in a series of short projects...a number of practitioners gave their time and helped run some of the projects - including:

• Savills (Manchester)
• Avison Young (London)
• The Townscape Heritage Initiative (Birmingham Jewellery Quarter)
• Broad Street Trust (Oxford)
• Transport for Greater Manchester
• The National Trust (Cliveden)
• Barton Willmore Planning
• Jones Lang Lasalle
• The Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government. 

The photos below show the students (from Waterloo) giving their final presentations (at Oxford Brookes) - which were attended by students and staff from the School of the Built Environment at Oxford Brookes:

The Manchester project...

...and a bit of history.

The audience...including Mike Stubbs and Karen Hughes who helped organise the UK tour

We would like to encourage students from Oxford Brookes to take part in the exchange and visit the University of Waterloo - students are expected to self-fund these trips and to maintain and reinvigorate the exchange from Oxford Brookes to the University of Waterloo, we are always looking for sponsorship to promote and reduce the student cost. It is valuable and highly engaging and hopefully a very positive link for the students just before they go into practice. Please get in touch if you are interested in offering sponsorship!