Professor Nick Dunn
ProfessorProfile
Nick Dunn is Professor of Urban Design and Executive Director of Imagination, the design and architecture research lab at Lancaster University. Nick's work examines the ways we think, envision and analyse the futures of people, places, and planet. His research has been funded by numerous research councils and government bodies. Nick is the founding Director of the Dark Design Lab, exploring the impacts of nocturnal activity on humans and non-humans. He is also an Ambassador for the Design Council and a Director of DarkSky UK. Nick has authored numerous books, journal articles, and commissioned reports. His expertise on cities, design, futures, health, and darkness have led to curated exhibitions and invited talks at public festivals and conferences around the world.
PhD Supervision Interests
Future Cities, Cities at Night, More-than-human Design, Night Studies, Public Spaces, Smart Cities, Urban Design, Creative Practices, Design Futures
E3: Sonorous Urban Landscapes: Using sound and light to capture and communicate changing biodiversity in an urban setting
14/02/2024 → 13/02/2025
Research
Expanding Excellence in England (E3): Sustainability Bridging Grant
01/04/2023 → 31/03/2024
Research
REPLENISH: Reimagining PLaces and Engineering Infrastructure Systems for Health
20/03/2020 → 20/09/2020
Research
Beyond Imagination (E3)
01/08/2019 → 31/03/2023
Research
ISF: The Future of Community and Values 2050
20/02/2017 → 22/03/2019
Research
ISF: Mobile Utopia 1851 - 2051
01/02/2016 → 31/12/2016
Research
Institutional Sponsorship 2015
01/06/2015 → 31/03/2016
Research
ESRC centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science - CASS
31/03/2013 → 30/03/2018
Research
Transforming the engineering of cities to deliver societal and planetary wellbeing
01/05/2012 → 31/12/2017
Research
Rewilding the Night: Co-developing nature-inclusive lighting
01/01/1900 → …
Research
The Pavements Project: Reimagining Mundane Infrastructure as Local 'Sustainability Catalysts'
01/01/1900 → …
Research
5th International Conference on Night Studies
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Envisioning Futures of the Built Environment
Invited talk
Journal of Rural and Community Development (Journal)
Publication peer-review
The City After Dark: Air Space Workshop and Night Walk
Invited talk
Imagination: Evolving A Research Culture
Invited talk
The Science of Future Cities
Invited talk
CHANSE, Collaboration of Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe (External organisation)
Membership of committee
Philosophy of the City Journal (Journal)
Publication peer-review
The future is a work in progress at the Festival of Futures
Symposium
Imagination Now & Next at the Festival of Futures
Symposium
Embracing Darkness in Design
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Dark Matters: Thinking and Walking Between Dusk and Dawn
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Dark Skies: Reattunement, Re-enchantment and Redistribution
Symposium
We Walk Into The Twilight
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Designing for a More-than-Human World
Invited talk
Design for All: People, Place, Planet
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
4th International Conference on Night Studies
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
DarkSky UK (External organisation)
Membership of board
International Dark-Sky Association UK (External organisation)
Membership of board
Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (External organisation)
Member of Advisory Panel
3rd International Conference on Night Studies
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
3rd International Conference on Night Studies
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Dark Feelings: Atmospheres and Emotions in the Nocturnal City
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
City Nights: Migration and Cultural Encounters - Night Spaces: Migration Culture and Integration in Europe (NITE), 3rd International Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Urban Natures: Making Visible, (Re)Connecting and (Re)Politicising
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Designing Future Cities for Wellbeing
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Nocturnal Spaces: Rediscovering an Architecture of Darkness
Invited talk
Responsible Lighting in a Climate Changing World
Invited talk
Utopianism in Contemporary Urbanism
Invited talk
2nd International Conference on Night Studies
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Tirana Design Week 2021
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
The Housing Crisis and Affordability
Invited talk
Royal Geographical Society Annual International Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Royal Geographical Society Annual International Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Dark Wandering: Multispecies Encounters in the Future City
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Design Council (External organisation)
Member of Advisory Panel
Land Use Policy (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Future Cities
Invited talk
Foresight (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Future Cities: Questioning spaces that promote wellbeing and social inclusion
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
The Dark Turn in Contemporary Urbanism
Invited talk
Future Cities
Invited talk
Critical Urbanism: Tomorrow's Cities Today?
Invited talk
Cumbria Dark Skies Festival
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Writing, Lighting and Night
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
The Future of Futures?
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Rethinking Urban Nights: Cultures, Practices and Futures
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Smart Cities: Delivering Urban Futures?
Invited talk
H-Net (External organisation)
Membership of network
Rethinking Darkness: Cultures, Histories, Practices
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Manchester: Something Rich and Strange
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
International Night Studies Network (External organisation)
Membership of network
Designing Future Cities for Wellbeing
Invited talk
International Dark-Sky Association (External organisation)
Member of an organisation
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research - NWO (External organisation)
Membership of committee
More-than-human Nights: Intersecting lived experience and diurnal rhythms in the nocturnal city
Oral presentation
4th International Ambiances Network Congress (Event)
Membership of committee
Ethics, Policy and Environment (Journal)
Publication peer-review
16th Architectural Humanities Research Association International Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Cheltenham Literature Festival
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Designing and Delivering Tomorrow's World
Invited talk
Cheltenham Science Festival
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Visible Cities: Translating Ideas for Collective Life
Invited talk
Swiss National Science Foundation (External organisation)
Membership of committee
Not Quite Light Festival 2019
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Following Hauntology: Twilight Streets and Dark Horizons
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
The Landscape and Architecture of British Post-War Infrastructure
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Smart Cities: Urban Futures?
Invited talk
UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowships (UKRI FLF) programme Peer Review College (PRC) (External organisation)
Membership of committee
The British Academy (External organisation)
Membership of committee
15th Architectural Humanities Research Association International Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Narrative Afoot: walking as praxis between genres
Invited talk
HERA Humanities in the European Research Area (External organisation)
Membership of committee
Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting 2018
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting 2018
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
The Smart City
Invited talk
Nightscapes: On Wandering, Deviancy and Creativity
Invited talk
Pufendorf Institute for Advanced Studies (External organisation)
Membership of committee
Mobile Utopia
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
WWTF (Vienna Science and Technology Fund) (External organisation)
Membership of committee
Dag Van De Architectuur
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Open Senses Festival
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Mobilities Literature Culture
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Lacking Vision: challenges & opportunities for urban futures
Invited talk
Imagining Urban Futures
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
The Future of Cities: the role of imagination & shared vision for building our tomorrows
Invited talk
Dark Futures: the loss of night in the contemporary city?
Invited talk
Festival of Art and The Future City
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Festival of Art and The Future City
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
European Commission (External organisation)
Membership of committee
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (External organisation)
Membership of committee
European Commission JRC Annual Conference 2016 (Event)
Membership of committee
Shadow Play: Liberation and Exhilaration in the Mancunian Night
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Images of Future Cities and UK Foresight Initiatives
Invited talk
Loitering With Intent: The Art & Politics of Walking
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Future Cities: palimpsest of the utopic imagination
Invited talk
Cheltenham Science Festival
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Cities of the Future
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
3rd OIKONET Housing Research Conference, Global Dwelling (Event)
Membership of committee
Future Cities: Tomorrow's World Today?
Invited talk
Bristol Festival of Ideas: The Festival of the Future City
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Being Human Festival
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Letters to the Mayor
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Model Agency: dynamic tools for architecture
Invited talk
Feedback Loops: digital design & fabrication in architecture
Invited talk
Film Architectures: Welcome to the Future, International Film Festival
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Intelligent Landscapes: Technological Drivers, Future Cities and the Art of Being Smart’
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
York Festival of Ideas
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
The Future of the Future
Invited talk
Integrative Thinking: Building Knowledge through Making in Architecture
Invited talk
Street Art & Urban Creativity (Journal)
Publication peer-review
The Architectural Model: an archaeology of application
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Israel Science Foundation (External organisation)
Membership of committee
Model Behaviour: dynamic tools for design
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Technological Advancements as a Driving Force for Change
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Intelligent Landscapes: data mapping, smart cities and the power of information
Invited talk
The Future of Cities: is there an art to being smart?
Invited talk
Computer Love: digital design and fabrication
Invited talk
Street Art & Urban Creativity (External organisation)
Membership of committee
Research Through Design: 21st Century Makers and Materialities (Event)
Membership of committee
Urbanism on the Move
Invited talk
2nd International Conference on Adaptation and Movement in architecture & International Conference on Innovation in Design and Fabrication (Event)
Membership of committee
AHRC (External organisation)
Membership of committee
Digital Fabrication in Architecture
Invited talk
Data Pining: digital urbanism, smart cities and the limits of information
Invited talk
Drawing On (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Lisbon Street Art & Urban Creativity International Conference (Event)
Membership of committee
The Design Journal (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture 2013 International Conference (External organisation)
Membership of committee
- Imagination Lancaster
- Institute for Social Futures Fellow
- Makers
- More than Human
- School of Architecture
- School of Design
- Space & Place