Professor Richard Laing

Professor

School: Architecture and Built Environment

I am Professor of Urban Collaboration.

I have particular expertise in the areas of collaboration (between parties, groups and individuals) and participation (of stakeholders and the wide community) in research. This has often drawn on my knowledge of emerging digital technologies, where the associated research methods are driven by a desire to identify and make use of innovative ways to communicate with target groups.

This expertise has been developed across over two decades of work funded by EU framework programmes, Interreg and various UK-based research commissions. My research concentrates on the subject of visualisation and its use within public evaluation of open space, built heritage and urban design. My skills in relation to visual environmental valuation have developed through my leading significant externally funded research (grant value £3.5Million), and that research has resulted in over 100 publications. I am a Fellow of the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce). I co-chaired BuiltViz across 2007-present.

I am a Chartered Surveyor and a trained chairperson and assessor for the RICS APC. I represented the RICS on the European Construction Technology Platform, and am a member of EPSRC peer review college.

Email Richard

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Collaboration; Participation; Co-design; Sustainable Urbanism; Architectural Visualisation.

Key Publications

Rethinking engagement in urban design: reimagining the value of co-design and participation at every stage of planning for autonomous vehicles, Belkouri, D., Khairy, L., Laing, R., Lanng, D. 14 Jun 2024, In: Archnet-IJAR
Being there: capturing and conveying noisy slices of walking in the city, Belkouri, D., Lanng, D., Laing, R. 2 Nov 2022, In: Mobilities
An evaluation of sustainable construction perceptions and practices in Singapore, Yin, B., Laing, R., Leon, M., Mabon, L. 1 May 2018, In: Sustainable Cities and Society
Built Heritage Modelling and Visualisation: the potential to engage with issues of heritage value and wider participation, Laing, R. Jun 2020, In: Developments in the Built Environment

Current and Recent Projects

Mobilising Interactive Cultural Heritage Trails in Urban Mobility Systems, Rogage, K. (Principal Investigator), Laing, R. (Co Investigator), Seedcorn Funding, 03/11/25 - 30/06/26, £19,773.00
ZEROit IA Expert, Laing, R. (Principal Investigator), ECORYS Polska Sp. z o.o, 01/10/25 - 31/03/29, £54,320.00
Participatory neighbourhood planning for the ‘Brown to Green’ transition in Tyneside, Jin, J. (Principal Investigator), Laing, R. (Co Investigator), Arts & Humanities Research Council, 01/02/23 - 31/01/24, £32,109.00
Planning for Autonomous Vehicles (PAV), Laing, R. (Principal Investigator), Robert Gordon University, 01/09/22 - 28/02/23, £10,000.00

Professional Activity

Other: Civitas PORTIS 2016
Other: PAV Stimulating the Up-take of shared and electric autonomous Vehicles by local authorities 2019

PGR Supervision

Ashley Van Huis ??Being in the City: creative approaches to capturing community perspectives experiences in urban future-making processes Start Date: 14/02/2023
Triantafyllos Lathouras Does green space help? an investigation into the relationship between pocket parks and the management and conveyancing of nearby commercial office space in Mancehster. Start Date: 27/06/2024
Tadhg Charles Digital Tactility: Bridging workflow and practice in museum tactile access Start Date: 01/10/2024
Tadhg Charles From Fragility to Accessibility - 3D Printing as a Tool for Inclusive Heritage Engagement Start Date: 01/10/2024 End Date: 02/07/2025