Hi there. I’m Dave Valler, Reader in Planning in the School of the Built Environment at Oxford Brookes University.
It’s an honour to take up the Chair of the RSA London and South East Branch and I look forward to meeting and working with colleagues within and outside the area.
It’s a fascinating time, not least against the backdrop of ongoing Brexit negotiations, Heathrow expansion and the proposed development of the Oxford-Cambridge Arc, so we will aim to deliver an exciting programme of activities commencing from Spring 2020.
My research interests range across several themes, including local and regional economic development, urban theory and politics, sub-national governance and policy, and science/hi-tech spaces. I’ve undertaken research specifically on theoretical and practical planning and governance issues in the South East including questions of urban political dissonance (Territory, Politics, Governance 2018), local planning cultures and legacies (Planning Theory and Practice 2018), economic governance evaluation (Town Planning Review 2016), and planning for high-tech growth (Environment and Planning C 2014; Town Planning Review 2012). I am currently extending this work through a small scale pilot project on ‘comparative planning for growth’ looking at planning and governance processes in the Oxford and Stuttgart city-regions.
Below is some information about Regional Studies in London and the South East which you might find interesting. You might also like to read my blog posts on The Death of Local Democracy Oxfordshire Style and Realising the Potential of London and the Wider South East.
Please do feel free to contact me at any time – I look forward to hearing from you!
See the London and South East Branch page for more details of local events.