Spatial Policy and Analysis Laboratory (SPA Lab)
The Spatial Policy and Analysis Laboratory (SPA Lab) provides a home for staff and students across The University of Manchester engaged with urban and regional policy research.
Established in 1983 by Prof Brian Robson, SPA Lab (formerly the Centre for Urban Policy Studies) has long been engaged with policy-relevant research and the evaluation of area-based policy initiatives.
The Lab brings together expertise in integrating spatial thinking, methods, and techniques into the planning, policy, and governance of cities and regions. With this perspective, we provide understanding into and solutions for the grand challenges facing cities and regions.
Research themes
Our research on Policy, Governance and Placemaking explores how governance structures, policy frameworks and community practices shape place development, and how changes in planning policy and practice can achieve more equitable and inclusive outcomes.
We have critically examined how the lack of spatial thinking in UK government policymaking has led to uneven public investment and development across the country, particularly in the northern regions. We also research on how community participation and stakeholder engagement in urban development influence policy outcomes, as well as developing innovative methods for engagement and participation.
In addition, we investigate how political-economic forces, cultural practices, and the diffusion of planning and practice ideas influence the evolution of planning systems and the transformation of urban places. Our analysis has adopted a mix methods approach, ranging from quantitative spatial analysis, through text analysis of social media, to qualitative methods involving co-production with policymakers.
Extending beyond the UK, we explore international contexts, including China, Latin America, and Africa, to understand how governance structures, cultural dynamics, and community voices interact in shaping urban and regional futures. Crucially, our work spans multiple spatial scales, from national strategies and regional governance to local regeneration and neighbourhood-level placemaking.
Key strands of this theme include:
- Spatial inequality, devolution, and territorial disparities
- Governance innovation and policy reform
- Placemaking, culture, and participation
- Health, wellbeing, and place-based inequalities
Our research on Urbanisation and Urban Development investigates how processes of urban growth, land-use change, regeneration, and infrastructure investment shape the social, economic, and environmental futures of cities and regions. We explore how the structure of cities evolves over time and space and critically assess the outcomes of land use policies and urbanisation, including brownfield redevelopment, the preservation of greenbelts and agricultural land, and new land development.
We also examine the role of strategic infrastructure planning and investment in transport, energy, digital communications, and public services as key drivers of economic growth, social equity, and environmental sustainability. We analyse the complexities of large-scale infrastructure projects and their far-reaching impacts, including how new transport corridors reshape land-use patterns, and how digital infrastructure can either bridge or reinforce spatial divides. We assess the impacts of emerging transport technologies such as AI-enabled automated systems, ICT-based mobility services, electrification (EVs), and micromobility modes (e-bikes, e-scooters), and how these innovations alter travel behaviour, user interactions, and accessibility in both urban and regional contexts. We investigate infrastructure resilience, focusing on how critical infrastructures such as energy and transport systems respond to disruptive events, and how decarbonisation pathways intersect with housing and grid capacity challenges.
To advance understanding of these dynamics, we employ spatial analysis, modelling, and forecasting techniques to examine urbanisation processes and their consequences. Our work informs planning and policy debates across multiple scales and international contexts, offering evidence and insights to support more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable urban development.
Key strands of this theme include:
- Urban development and spatial dynamics
- Urbanisation, land use change and informal settlement growth in the global context
- Infrastructure planning and long-term spatial development
- Transport and mobility transitions, including emerging technologies
Our research on Digital Planning and Data Analytics explores how digital technologies and data science are used to aid decision-making in city and regional development. We are dedicated to advancing evidence-based decision-making that directly benefits communities, helping to build places that are more resilient, equitable, and sustainable. By combining expertise in urban modelling, spatial data analysis, GIS, and more recently AI, we unlock new insights into the complex dynamics of land use, mobility, housing, and the environment.
We focus on exploring the potential of digital innovation while remaining attentive to its risks and ethical implications. From big data generated by cities to artificial intelligence applications in planning, we collaborate with the Institute for Data Science and AI to develop new methods within our urban data science theme.
Another core strand of our research lies in strengthening spatial decision support. Research conducted concerning spatially explicit DSS contributes to the ongoing digital planning efforts. This research combines conventional methods like multicriteria analysis with advanced approaches such as agent-based models in the context of participatory planning, land use, transport, mobility, negotiation in planning, and urban governance.
Key strands of this theme include:
- Data science and AI applications for smart cities
- Digitisation of planning processes and participatory GIS
- Spatial decision support systems and collaborative planning tools
Projects
Explore our range of research projects.
Read more
Publications
Browse our research outputs and publications.
Read more
StoryMaps
Discover our research findings in insightful map visualizations.
Read more
Our people
Lead
Directors
Members
- Dr Ransford A. Acheampong
- Dr Felix Agyemang
- Prof Mark Baker
- Dr Andreas Schulze Baing
- Dr Iain Deas
- Dr Bertie Dockerill
- Dr Nick Green
- Dr Khashayar Kazemzadeh
- Dr Caglar Koksal
- Dr Nuno Pinto
- Dr Rob Richardson
- Dr Guibo Sun
- Dr Yueming Zhang
Associates
- Dr Gemma Basham – Honorary Senior Research Fellow
- Dave Carter
- Mike Emmerich – Honorary Professorial Fellow
- Prof Vincent Goodstadt
- Prof Graham Haughton
- Michael Henson – Honorary Senior Knowledge Exchange Fellow
- Dr Sian Peake-Jones – Honorary Research Fellow
- Dr Richard Kirkham
- Bob May – Honorary Professorial Knowledge Exchange Fellow
- Ian Wray – Honorary Professorial Fellow
- Dr Lei Wang – Honorary Research Fellow
Current PhD students
- Fatimah Alturfi – Towards Smart and Sustainable Urban Futures: Developing a Framework to Assess the Urban Sustainability Impacts of Autonomous Vehicles and Associated Mobility Services
- Rati Sandeep Choudhari – Environmentally Sustainable Futures: The Potential of Modular City Planning (Conceptualising Reconfigurable City)
- Thomas Harris – Constructing a Model for Smart City Strategy Building in Latin American Cities
- Christopher Marsland – Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) — Analysing activity-travel behaviour and its application to on-demand multi-modal mobility solutions in cities
- Abdulrahman Abubaker Al Mottahar – Autonomous Vehicles: Assessment of its Supporting Ecosystem and The Process of Developing a Regulatory Framework
- Ana Kashfi Muhamad – The Interplay of Architecture in the Complex Urban Fabric of Town Centres
- Alejandro de Jesus Carpio Nunez – Urban system multi-model environmental impact analysis: Rethinking the approximation to assess the impact of human settlements and CO2 emissions
- Muhammad Uthman – Urban Expansion and Standard of Living in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Yueh-Sung Weng – Incremental housing upgrading strategy as an alternative – A community-led regeneration approach in Taiwanese cities
- Xinye Xiao – A Research on Green Gentrification in China Caused by Urban Regeneration
- Xinyue Dong – Towards Age-Friendly Neighbourhoods: Evaluating participation and policy outcomes in Neighbourhood Planning in England
- Ruixiao Yang – Optimising Shared (e)Mobility Hub Location Planning: An Integrated Machine Learning and Agent-based Modelling Approach
- Sui Zhang – Spatial differentiation and key determinants of health-related well-being in Tameside and Glossop: geo-visualisation and multi-level spatial modelling
- Erna Megawati Manna - Sustainable Smart Islands: Pathways to Energy Transition
- Sarah Grady – Critical success factors in developing effective temporary use of land and buildings as part of wider regeneration, planning and economic development initiatives
- Chengwei Wang – Job accessibility and socio-spatial inequalities: an urban simulation tool for transport management in Beijing, China
- Ishita Patil – Cast(e) in Concrete: Unpacking the Embeddedness of Caste in the Private Housing Infrastructure in India
- Xinyue Dong - Towards Age-Friendly Neighbourhoods: Evaluating Participation and Policy Outcomes in Neighbourhood Planning in England
- Gloria Munoz Romero - Household and individual climate change adaptation in coastal cities of the global south: empirical evidence from Los Cabos, México
- Yifan Hu - Spatial and Social Restructuring in China's Art District: Art-Led Gentrification and Dynamic Scales
- Joseph Usher - What are the Existing and Future Potential Impacts of English Devolution on the Quantum, Quality, and Type of Housing Delivered?
- Rashmi Kundu - India’s Air Pollution Crisis: Governance, Accountability, and Policy Challenges
Past PhD students
- Ruotong Tang – Sustainable Development in Ethnic Villages of Southwest China: A bottom-up perspective
- Augustine Asuah – Understanding the Relationship between Spatial Structure and Inequality of Access in Sub-Saharan African Cities: A Case Study of Accra and Greater Kumasi City-Regions in Ghana
- Yuyuan Chen – Transition to Mobility-as-a-Service: an international comparative study of integration mechanisms and implementation strategies
- Patrick Moat – How can the planning and implementation processes in the redevelopment of mid-20th century social housing projects be made more egalitarian, sustainable, and affordable in modern entrepreneurial UK cities?
- Eman Abouziyan – Mapping the spatial and socio-technical dynamics of urban metabolism for sustainable urban development in Egypt
- Aya Badawi – Simulating the Behaviours of Urban Negotiators Using Agent-based Modelling
- Ren Yitian – E-commerce, rural entrepreneurship and in situ urbanization in rural China
Contact us
Spatial Policy and Analysis Laboratory (SPAL)
Room 1.34
Humanities Bridgeford Street Building
The University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester
M13 9PL
- +44(0)161 275 0680 (Prof Cecilia Wong)
- +44(0)161 275 1936 (Prof Richard Kingston)