Dr Andrea Frank PhD, MUP, Dipl-Ing (Arch), SFHEA

Dr Andrea Frank

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 6976
Email
a.i.frank@bham.ac.uk

Dr Andrea Frank is an urban planning scholar regarded for her work on community engagement in planning as well as researching and advancing planning education and pedagogies particularly in respect to international and community-engaged (socially responsible) co-learning. She is regularly invited as keynote speaker on education for spatial planning issues.

Qualifications

  • Certificate in Practical Leadership for University Management – ILM, 2009
  • PhD, Urban Technological and Environmental Planning - University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, 2000
  • Master in Urban Planning (MUP) and Certificate in Gaming/Simulation studies – University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, 1994
  • Dipl-Ing (Architecture) – University of Stuttgart, Germany, 1990

Biography

Dr Andrea Frank has an international and interdisciplinary background with a degree in Architecture and Urban Design from the University of Stuttgart (Germany) and a Master in Urban Planning as well as PhD in Urban Technological and Environmental Planning from the University of Michigan (USA).

Upon completing the PhD in 2000 she became a Research Fellow at Cardiff University’s School of City and Regional Planning (today: School of Geography and Planning) and the Subject Coordinator for planning/housing/transport education at the Centre for Education in the Built Environment. In this role she organized 4 nation-wide conferences and numerous workshops and events, and led research projects on pedagogical issues including internationalization, work-based learning and entrepreneurship. She has gained substantial international recognition in planning education being invited most recently as keynote speaker to Taiwan (2018) and France (2020). She has served on the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) executive committee (2007-2014) and the Global Planning Education Association Network (GPEAN) council and frequently chairs the planning education track for the AESOP annual congresses and is the leader of the AESOP thematic group on Planning Education. Andrea is currently working on completing her second edited book on the topic of innovative pedagogies for spatial planning in the 21st century.

At Cardiff University she advanced to Senior Lecturer in 2009 with teaching expertise in design studio, live project, experiential & work-based learning, and field study leadership. In 2012, Andrea was awarded an InnoLectureship by the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg and in 2014 became a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Her wide-ranging research interests include education and capacity building for planners and pedagogical approaches, sustainable development, public participation / community engagement, regional planning and governance, human-nature relationships, urban design and green infrastructure. From 2015 she has led and been involved in a number of network and capacity building research activities examining the use of green infrastructure for sustainable city transformations being awarded a Global Innovation Initiative grant with University of Florida and Universitas of Indonesia. This led to institutional MOUs and a number of follow-up awards.

From 2018 – 2019, Dr. Frank held visiting appointments (University of Indonesias in Jakarta, Hafencity University in Hamburg, Germany) and engaged in consultancy at the European Commission and Research Executive Agency for their Science for and with Society strand. She also was instrumental in launching an innovative English language Master in Transforming City Regions geared at an international student market at the RWTH Aachen before joining the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies at University of Birmingham in February 2020.

Teaching

Andrea is a dedicated educator and passionate about teaching. She teaches urban studies and planning topics on the BSc Human Geography/Planning and the MSc Urban and Regional Planning, including for example:

  • GGM216 Berlin Field Course and Dissertation Lab
  • GGM218 Human Research Methods
  • LM International Planning
  • LM Sustainable Cities

Research

  • Public participation and community engagement
  • Sustainable urban and regional development & Governance
  • Green infrastructure
  • Planning education and transformative pedagogies
  • Planning and health

Other activities

  • Co-editor, Transactions of AESOP (Association of European Schools of Planning)
  • External Examiner (Urban Planning) at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
  • Lead for Thematic Group on Planning Education of AESOP
  • Visiting positions at University of Applied Sciences at Stuttgart (2007- present), HafenCity University Hamburg (2019), Universitas Indonesia (2019)
  • Global Planning Education Association Network – council chair (GPEAN) (2009-14)
  • International Board Member: SAGSAGA, Society of German Simulation and Gaming Association. Jury member for Annual Gaming/simulation Prize 2014 - present
  • Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2014 - present )

Publications

Books and articles in peer-reviewed journals only (full list of publications available on request)

Peer reviewed/refereed articles

Frank, A. I. (2019) Enhancing internationalisation through inter-institutional cooperation: Innovative Practice in Planning education. Transactions of AESOP (online: http://transactions-journal.aesop-planning.eu/)

Sieh L. and Frank A. I. (2018) Designing impact evaluation for students’ engagement with communities in planning education. Journal of Planning Education & Research https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X18807287

Rooij, R. & Frank, A. I (2016) "INTRODUCTION Educating Spatial Planners for the Age of Co-Creation: the Need to Risk Community, Science and Practice Involvement in Planning Programmes and Curricula". Planning Practice and Research. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02697459.2016.1222120.

Frank, A. I. & L. Sieh (2016) Multiversity of the 21st Century examining opportunities of integrating community involvement in planning curricula. Planning Practice and Research. online (open access) at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02697459.2016.1180573.

Frank, A. I., I. Mironowicz et al. (2014) Educating Planners in Europe: A review of 21st Century study programmes. Progress in Planning 91C, pp.30-94. DOI: 10.1016/j.progress.2013.05.001

Frank, A. (2013). “Europeanisation” of Planning Education?: an exploration of the concept, potential merit and issues. Revista Brasileira de Estudos Urbanos e Regionais, 15(1), 141-153. doi:10.13061/rbeur.v15i1.4175

Frank, A., I Mironowicz, and D. Kurth. (2012) Accreditation and Quality Assurance of Professional Degree Programmes: comparing approaches in three European Countries. Quality in Higher Education 18 (1): 75-95.

Bertolini, L., Frank, A. et al. (2012) “Time to think”: Planning (Education)–from marginal interface to central opportunity space? Planning Theory & Practice 13(3):465-90. (10.1080/14649357.2012.704712)

Frank, A I (2010) Making a case for complementarity of student learning from yearlong work based placements in town planning. LATHE, 4(2), 21-45. Available online: http://resources.glos.ac.uk/shareddata/dms/E1A69748BCD42A0397920A8C4B6AD343.pdf

Books and Book Chapters

Frank, A. I. and A. R. Pires (forthcoming) Teaching urban and regional planning: innovative pedagogies in practice. Edgar Elgar

Frank, A. I. (2020) Chapter 2: Education and Demonstration of Professional Competence. In: International Handbook of Planning Education edited by B. Stiftel et al. Routledge.

Frank, A. I. and C. Silver (eds) (2018). Urban Planning Education: Beginnings, Global Movement and Future prospects. Dortrecht: Springer http://www.springer.com/br/book/9783319559667

Frank, A. I. and T. K. Marsden (2016) Regional spatial planning, government and governance as a recipe for sustainable development. Chapter 10. In: Andersson, K., Sjöblom, S., Granberg, L., Ehrström, P., Marsden, T. (eds) Metropolitan Ruralities. Emerald.

Frank, A. I. (2014) Establishing Games, Gaming and Policy Exercises as Tools for Urban and Regional Planning – are we there yet? In Duke, R. D. and W C Kriz (eds) Back to the Future of Gaming. Pp 80-92. Bielefeld: wbv.

Stiftel, B., Demerutis, J., Frank, Andrea I. et al. (2009) Chapter 10: Planning Education. In Planning Sustainable Cities, pp 185-198. 2009 UN Global report on Human Settlements: Earthscan. Available online: http://www.unhabitat.org/downloads/docs/GRHS_2009Brief.pdf

 

Frank, A. I. and B. Symonds (2009). ‘Facilitating Internationalisation in Real Estate and Surveying Education through Institutional Cooperation.’ In Mändle, M. (ed.) Beiträge zum Kooperationswesen. Hamburg: Hammonia.