Mark is UCL Bartlett Professor of Cities and Regions at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London. He was previously Professor of Town Planning at Newcastle University (2012-20), and Professor of Spatial Planning and Governance at UCL (2001-12).
Mark is a recognised authority and has written extensively on place innovation, urban and regional planning, urban history, digital place connectivity, the politics and governance of the city, public engagement, and the use of land.
The author of 17 books and over 75 international journal papers, he has won £25m in research income, levered in £61m for university initiatives, and supervised successfully 28 PhD students.
He has given over 300 talks worldwide on cities and planning issues & has advised governments across the globe on city development. He has been a Visiting Professor at Berkeley California, Hong Kong, Shanghai, UNSW Sydney, Western Sydney, Guadalajara, Pretoria, Malta, Nijmegen, & Dublin.
He is the founding Director of Newcastle City Futures, a successful civic ideas factory housed at Newcastle University 2014-19 linking research to societal & business needs that generated collaborative & innovative ideas for all sectors across the city and partnered 200 organisations. It levered in £33m for partners, facilitated the shaping & delivery of 35 innovation projects, & engaged 155k people.
Mark chairs the Connected Places Catapult Research Panel & is Chair of the Regional Studies Association 2017-20, having been RSA Vice Chair for Publications 2012-15. He was a member of the RTPI General Assembly 2006-8, the UK Chief Scientist’s Land Use Futures Foresight project where he was seconded to the Government Office for Science 2008-11, is a former advisor to UK Government ministries DEFRA and MHCLG, & served on the NICE NHS spatial planning & health programme in 2009-10. He advised the UK Chief Scientist’s Future of Cities Foresight project 2013-16. For his contribution to cities & planning, he was elected an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2011, awarded fellowship of the RTPI in 2013 & is the recipient of 4 awards for NCF.