Dr Luz Navarro

I am a Lecturer in Urban Planning and Architecture at the School of Architecture and Cities at the University of Westminster. I am the course leader of the BA Urban Planning and Design and a member of the Emerging Territories Research Group. I hold a PhD from the Welsh School of Architecture at Cardiff University and an MSc in Building and Urban Design in Development from The Bartlett Development Planning Unit at UCL.

With over 15 years of professional experience in the fields of Architecture and Planning in Spain and the UK, my teaching and research activities contribute to the debate on the ethics of spatial practices and have critically questioned the disciplinary boundaries of urban design. I have been a Unit Leader for the Spring Design Studio MAUD at Cardiff University and a Design Tutor at the March at the WSA. I have also been invited as a guest critic at the WSA, Reading, and The Bartlett Development Planning Unit. Additionally, I was a Research Associate at the Active Travel Academy where my research focused on issues of equity, inclusion, and representation in active travel projects and policies. Prior to joining the University of Westminster, I was a Senior Transport Planner at Islington BC.

My research explores issues of equity, inclusion, and representation in urban plans, policies, and projects. I am particularly interested in the contested discourses that emerge around urban regeneration and spatial transformations, and how the built environment can be made more inclusive for vulnerable groups.

I approach Urban Planning and Design from a multidimensional and multidisciplinary perspective, recognising that design cannot be understood solely as a discipline concerned with the physical transformation of space. Instead, I see it as a field deeply entangled with social, political, and epistemological questions.

I am currently the PI of the ESRC-funded project 'Place-Based Engagement Strategies with Local Communities for better Climate Resilience Governance in Disaster Situations' focused on civic engagement strategies for climate resilience governance in Caxias do Sul, Brazil, together with Dr Giulio Verdini and colleagues from the City Living Lab from Universidade de Caxias do Sul. This project brings together UK and Brazilian researchers, local government officials, and community stakeholders to co-design inclusive policies that respond to climate-related disasters. It builds on participatory methodologies and policy design tools to strengthen local governance capacity and community resilience.

I have also secured funding from the UKRI Participatory Research Fund and the Quintin Hogg Trust for a project investigating the emotional and psychological barriers to cycling experienced by BAME women in urban environments. Through participatory workshops, this research aims to make active travel initiatives more inclusive and representative of London’s diverse population.

I contributed to the 'State of the Legacy report', a collaborative publication led by UCL Urban Laboratory that interrogates a decade of Olympic ‘regeneration’ in East London. The review critically examines the promises and realities of legacy planning following the London 2012 Games, offering insights into housing, governance, employment, and spatial justice. 

My PhD research focused on inclusive urban planning and design in El Cabanyal, Valencia. I examined how dissensus, as both a concept and a practic, can challenge hegemonic narratives in urban regeneration. I introduced the notion of ‘agonistic urbanisms’ to describe counter-hegemonic spatiotemporal sites that enable alternative practices of urban transformation and facilitate the inclusion of marginalised political subjects in the production of space and knowledge.

I have presented my work at numerous national and international conferences, including AESOP 2025, EURA 2025, AESOP Public Spaces and Urban Cultures (Naples, 2023), The Many Faces of Migration (University of Westminster, 2021), RC21 (Leeds, 2017), Contested Cities (Madrid, 2016), the Society for American City and Regional Planning History (Los Angeles, 2015), New Urban Languages (Delft, 2015), and the Architecture of Alterity Symposium (University of Edinburgh). I have also shared my research at ATA Seminars and Urban Design London.