Dr Darren Bell

Darren has over 30 years of professional practice and academic experience. He was previously a Partner at a national planning and urban design consultancy and has also worked as a Planning Manager at the Advisory Team for Large Applications (ATLAS) and Senior lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University.

Background

Darren has combined academic and professional work for about 30 years. His professional work, most recently, involved acting as a Partner of a national planning and design consultancy (David Lock Associates). Prior to this, he was part of the Advisory Team for Large Planning Applications (ATLAS), advising local planning authorities and dissemination good practices.

He completed his PhD in 2004 on Masterplans: Urban Design, Property Markets and Partnerships and then worked at Sheffield Hallam University as a Senior Lecturer. He was retained as a Visiting Fellow at Sheffield following his return to professional practice and has also served on the Royal Town Planning Institute’s membership committee.

Research interests

• Large-scale and strategic developments
• Social infrastructure
• Embedding design quality in the planning process.

Teaching

MSc Town Planning:

• Planning Implementation
• Planning Principles and Concepts
• Planning and Housing

Qualifications

• BSc Geography University of Nottingham
• Masters in Town Planning (MTP) Newcastle University
• MSc Built Environment Research University of the West of England
• PhD University of West of England

Memberships, editorial boards

• Member of Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI)