Newcastle University

Research Interests

I am a qualitative researcher. My research focuses on poverty and inequity in the Global South. In particular I am interested in housing, homelessness and migration and they way these interface with access to the city. I am increasingly interested in the way in which dominant groups lay down perceived acceptable urban(e) behaviour within cities and how this conflicts with the survival strategies and rationales of the urban poor. This has led to a growing interest in urban agriculture and in the way in which the poor are prevented from addressing their most basic needs for food and shelter.
I am a qualitative researcher and have worked in a range of countries of the Global South (most recently: India, Bangladesh, Egypt, China, Bolivia, Peru, Nigeria). I am interested in exploring the way in which the minutiae of everyday life is influenced by urban policy and planning practice. To that end, over the last 18 years of my career, I have developed a range of participatory, qualitative approaches to field work and data collection.

Other Expertise

Through 3rd strand activity I have built up a sound range of experience in evaluations of Government regeneration programmes, such as SRB or New Deal for Communities. This is transferable to other evaluation based research and underpins much of the 3rd strand work I get

Current Work

I am currently continuing my interlinked interests in homelessness, informal settlements and access to the city. However, I am also become increasingly interested in the practice of urban agriculture. I am working with OAU in Ile Ife, Nigeria on a British Council funded study of the relationship between urban agriculture and urban planning.

Future Research

I am working towards a research funding bid to study the relationship between urban agriculture and urban planning. I am collaborating with OAU Nigeria, RUAF, in Netherlands and colleagues in SAPL at Newcastle to develop a multi-disciplinary methodology to support such a bid

Research Roles

I work to support the Schools REF position. I teach on the Faculty's Research Training Programme and teach research methods to international students within the School

Postgraduate Supervision

I currently supervise 3 PhD students and generally supervise around five other post graduate (MSc) dissertation students each year as well as three or four undergraduate students

Esteem Indicators

With my colleague Dr Graham Tipple I have been involved in a number of projects for UN Habitat. I was joint moderator of the UN Habitat e-dialogue on ‘right to the city in 2009. I was part of a team which undertook the State of Iraqi Cities report for the Iraqi Government in 2006.
I developed a conference in Delhi in 2006 on international homelessness which was highly praised by the Under Secretary of UN-HABITAT

Funding

2006 Evaluation and community consultation on the use of public transport in Sunderland £40,000 (approx) as lead partners and budget holder, with Banks of the Wear CP

2004/5 Evaluation of 3 SRB Programmes in Middlesbrough, Loftus and Skelton. For Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council. 5 months. Joint applicant with Banks of the Wear Community Projects Project value £42,000.

2004 Study of the barriers to the take up of health and social care services by black and minority ethnic people in Gateshead, for Gateshead Health Improvement Group, 4 months. Joint applicant with Banks of the Wear Community Projects Project value £7000,

2003 Study of Community Cohesion in Sunderland, for Sunderland City Council, 5 months. With Banks of the Wear Community Projects Project value £5,500

2000 Evaluation of the Standards Fund Grant for Teenage Pregnancy. DFES, with Department of Sociology and Social Policy University of Newcastle upon Tyne. £107,000 21 months

2002 Best approaches in the education of pregnant young women and young mothers of statutory school age. Teenage Pregnancy Unit. with Department of Sociology and Social Policy University of Newcastle upon Tyne. £127,000 – 18 months

2000 Evaluation of ‘Fit for Work’ Single Regeneration Budget Programme in Newham, East London - £35,000 12 months (Sole applicant)

Projects

• State of Iraqi Cities
  Project Leader(s): Dr Graham Tipple
  Review of urban environmental conditions and policy in Iraqi Cities
• The Changing Nature of Professionalism in Spatial Planning
  Project Leader(s): Geoff Vigar

Undergraduate Teaching

My undergraduate teaching is limited. I share teaching on Spatial Strategies Module with a colleague. I have input into undergraduate research methods teaching and supervise 3 or 4 undergraduate student each year

Postgraduate Teaching

I developed and introduced a taught post graduate MSc. Degree Programme in Planning for Developing Countries, for which I am the Director. The Programme had its first intake of 3 students in 2010. I am module leader for four modules on that degree and have input into other modules throughout the Schools. In 2010 I also introduced an additional design route through our previous Master of Architecture and Planning Studies programme. This new route has attracted considerable interest from international students wanting to undertake non-accredited architecture and planning study.
Because of the diversity of the students and the additional needs of international students I run extra curricula sessions on Social Science study skills, essay writing and studying in UK

• Speak S. Alternative Understandings of Homelessness in Developing Countries. 2011. Submitted.
• Speak S. Planning for the needs of urban poor in the Global South: the value of a feminist approach. Planning Theory 2011. Submitted.
• Tipple AG, Speak SE. Homelessness in Asian Developing Countries. In: 7th Conference of the Asian Planning Schools Association. 2003, Hanoi Architectural University (HUA), Vietnam.
• Tipple AG, Speak SE. Homelessness in developing countries. In: Parallel event at the Nineteenth Session of the Governing Council of UN-Habitat. 2003, Nairobi, Kenya.
• Tipple AG, Speak S. Interventions to Combat and Support Homelessness in Developing and Transitional Countries. In: ENHR Conference on "Making Cities Work". 2003, Tirana, Albania.
• Tipple AG, Speak S. Definitions of homelessness in developing countries. In: E-Conference on Homelessness in Developing Countries. 2002, CARDO, University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
• Tipple AG, Speak S. Differentiating between squatters and homeless people. In: E-Conference on Homelessness in Developing Countries. 2002, CARDO, University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
• Speak S. Barriers to Lone Parents' Employment: looking beyond the obvious. Local Economy 2000, 15(1), 32-44.
• Speak S. Children in urban regeneration: foundations for sustainable participation. Community Development Journal 2000, 35(1), 31-40.
• Speak S. Back to the Well: the hidden costs of service exclusion for the network poor. Journal of Consumer Studies and Home Economics 2000, 24(1), 49-59.
• Tipple AG, Speak SE. Who is homeless in developing countries? Differentiating between inadequately housed and homeless people. International Development Planning Review 2006, 28(1), 57-84.
• Speak S, Tipple G. Perceptions, persecution and pity: The limitations of interventions for homelessness in developing countries. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 2006, 30(1), 172-188.
• Speak S. Relationship between children's homelessness in developing countries and the failure of women's rights legislation. Housing, Theory and Society 2005,22 3 129-146.
• Speak S. Degrees of destitution: A typology of homelessness in developing countries. Housing Studies 2004, 19(3), 465-482.
• Tipple G, Speak S. Definitions of homelessness in developing countries. Habitat International 2005, 29(2), 337-352.
• Speak S. Being There: Roles and Aspirations of young, single non-residential fathers. In:Holgate, H., Evans, R., Yuen, F.K.O., ed. Teenage Pregnancy and Parenthood: Global Perspectives and Interventions.London, UK:Routledge,2006, pp. 140-149.
• Speak S, Tipple G. Housing and Homelessness in Developing Countries. In:Levinson, D., ed. Encyclopedia of Homelessness.London, UK:Sage Publications Ltd.,2004, pp. 270-277.
• Speak S. Back to the well: the transactional costs of consumption for disadvantaged people. Journal of Consumer Studies and Home Economics 2000.