Architects, planners, and engineers are failing to turn decades of research on healthy design into real buildings and neighbourhoods, and this doctoral training programme aims to close that gap. The built environment accounts for up to 40% of all carbon emissions, yet the sector is not on track to decarbonise by 2050. Despite clear evidence on what kinds of designs support physical wellbeing, social cohesion, and community resilience, delivering healthy places remains the exception rather than the norm. Fewer PhDs are undertaken in architecture, building, and planning compared to other humanities subjects, meaning less research directly relevant to professionals on the ground. If successful, AD[A]PT will produce a new generation of interdisciplinary doctoral scholars who directly tackle the barriers professionals face. Their work could reshape how buildings and public spaces are designed and adapted—changing the infrastructure that quietly underpins daily life, from housing estates to high streets. The programme partners with thirteen organisations including the RIBA, Historic England, and NHS trusts, so findings have a clear route into industry standards and practice. Success will be measured by tracking impact pathways and industry-wide changes, not just academic publications.
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Designed, altered and shaped by architects, planners and other built environment professionals, our 'lived-in' environment underpins our existence and affects the health and wellbeing of all living entities, for good or ill. A focus on the creation of healthy places is an effective route to a healthier people and a healthier planet. Improving the lived-in environment, and the way it is perceived by its users, can in turn positively improve physical wellbeing, social cohesion and enable communities to become more resilient. Despite decades of research giving us clear guidance on what kinds of designs better support health, a theory-practice gap persists, meaning delivering healthy places through design and adaptation is the exception rather than the norm. Our research agenda will focus on the amplified impacts that the decisions made by built environment professionals can have on our collective efforts to reverse the trajectory towards climate breakdown and catastrophic biodiversity loss. In the face of these complex, parallel existential crises we need new ways to confront barriers that built environment professionals experience when attempting to deliver healthier places supporting a healthier planet and healthier lives. Oxford Brookes University (Brookes), Cardiff University (Cardiff) and Falmouth University (Falmouth), will provide doctoral students the opportunity to address this theory-practice gap while enjoying the full breadth of possible experiences from a Russell Group, a post-92 polytechnic and a Small Specialist Institution. AD[A]PT has the capacity to realise our ambition to harness the potential of humanities and design-based methodologies towards innovative processes to rethink pre-existing tired, rigid ways of working. The AHRC acknowledges that design-based research is a methodological approach of value requiring further strategic investment to foster its development. Compared to other humanities subjects, fewer PhDs are undertaken in the fields of architecture, building and planning, leading to less research being conducted that is of direct relevance to the work of built environment professionals. This is particularly problematic as the built environment accounts for up to 40% of all carbon emissions and the sector is self-reportedly not on track to decarbonise by 2050. Addressing this gap, AD[A]PT will deliver a new generation of interdisciplinary doctoral scholars whose research specifically addresses barriers faced by built environment professionals to: meet targets for the UN’s sustainable development goals, fulfilling the UK government’s pledge towards net zero, and biodiversity net gain towards a healthier planet exceed life, health and fire safety standards in buildings to ensure healthier people create healthy places that nurture, are accessible, inclusive and supportive of a rich diversity of life. A third of the studentships will be Collaborative Doctoral Awards, and our Steering Group enables students to work closely with thirteen key organisations from architecture, planning and urban design [Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Design Commission for Wales (DCfW) and Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI)]; heritage [Royal Commission for Ancient and Historic Monuments Wales (RCAHMW), Historic England (HE), Cadw]; landscape [Landscape Institute (LI)]; housing (Chartered Institute of Housing - Cymru (CIHC)]; construction and engineering [(Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)]; and the health and charity sectors [(Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (RCHT) and Circus Eruption (CE)]. Success will be measured by tracking impact pathways, industry-wide changes, and how inclusive, responsible and responsive our recruiting, training and research practices are.
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