Dr Andrew Belfield

School of Architecture and Landscape

Architecture Agency Fellow

andrew.belfield@sheffield.ac.uk

Arts Tower

Full contact details

Dr Andrew Belfield
School of Architecture and Landscape
Arts Tower
Western Bank
Sheffield
S10 2TN

Profile: I'm the Architecture Agency Fellow at the School of Architecture and Landscape, the University of Sheffield.

My research explores the fields of design, architecture and urban planning, focusing on citizen participation, co-design, socio-ecological justice and civic resilience. I hold a PhD (2025) in Architecture from the University of Sheffield; my thesis was funded by the ESRC and titled ‘Climate Companions: Civic Pedagogies by Design and Critical Spatial Practice’.

My current Fellowship research is titled 'Agency Now, Agency Futures', which investigates new concepts, practices, and pedagogies that nurture agency in people, cities and the natural world towards socio-ecological justice.

Outside the university, I'm a director at public works, a non-profit critical design practice that occupies the terrain between art, architecture and research. Working with an extended network of interdisciplinary collaborators, public works aims to re-work spatial, social and economic opportunities towards citizen-driven development.

Qualifications

Research interests: My research falls into three main areas:

(1) Design agency and critical spatial practice: research on participatory design(ers), design tactics and design as a catalyst towards socio-ecological justice.

(2) Co-produced urbanism, commoning and civic pedagogies: primarily through practice-based design research exploring citizen participation in the co-production of built environments.

(3) Just transitions: explorations of socio-ecological justice, circular and regenerative urban systems and civic resilience.

My approach is grounded in action, focusing on design and practice-based methodologies, with particular emphasis on co-design. This is combined with a Master's in Social Research, utilising qualitative social sciences methods to evaluate and analyse findings.

Publications

Can E, Alexandrescu M, Belfield A, Al-Dalal’a J, Scharf L & Petrescu D (2025) Spatial activist research as embodied praxis. Dimensions. Journal of Architectural Knowledge, 4(8), 329-350. View this article in WRRO
Belfield A (2025) Co-learning in living labs: nurturing civic agency and resilience. Buildings and Cities, 6(1), 969-985. View this article in WRRO
Can E, Alexandrescu M, Belfield A, Al-Dalal’a J, Scharf L & Petrescu D (2024) Spatial Activist Research as Embodied Praxis. Dimensions. Journal of Architectural Knowledge, 4(8), 329-350.
Belfield A & Petrescu D (2024) Co-design, neighbourhood sharing, and commoning through urban living labs. CoDesign, 21(2), 171-194. View this article in WRRO
Antaki N, Belfield A & Moore T (2024) Radical urban classrooms: civic pedagogies and spaces of learning on the margins of institutions. Antipode, 56(5), 1509-1534. View this article in WRRO
Petrescu D, Cermeño H, Keller C, Moujan C, Belfield A, Koch F, Goff D, Schalk M & Bernhardt F (2022) Sharing and space-commoning knowledge through urban living labs across different European cities. Urban Planning, 7(3), 254-273. View this article in WRRO

Teaching interests: Andy is an experienced lecturer in architecture and urban design, working across many UK and European universities at Master's and Bachelor's levels. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and is committed to 'live project' and research-based teaching.