Staff Profile

I have a background in architectural and urban design (BSc and MSc), and in urban planning, and heritage studies (PhD), and I now research and teach across and between those areas. I draw on a variety of social and creative methods to explore the understandings people have of our urban landscapes, about what they are, what they do, and the ways they are cared for, about, and with.

In my research, I include elements of urban and planning history, heritage planning, and governance of the built environment, usually centring on re-use and re-design, and working in collaboration with people in the heritage sector. In those settings, I am particularly interested in the political and socio-ethical nature of building(s), and the context of practices we label as 'heritage'.

Find me on Google Scholar

My research currently focuses on the question “Who do we (not) care for, by (not) caring for this heritage?” I explore care and care ethics perspectives to help us rethink the ways we ‘do’ heritage. Care – rather than just conservation – includes a much wider range of practices, for example, the maintenance, use, engagement, governance, and rejection of heritage. More importantly, I think care can help us think through the ethics of conservation and the way it reproduces injustices as it shifts our focus from materiality to relationality, on ongoing care relations between people through heritage, and between people and heritage.

Co-director of the Centre for Heritage (Heritage NUCoRE)

Advisory board member for the EPICA project

Project advisor on the Ballast Hills Burial Grounds project

past and current projects

• Campus Legacies, Newcastle University Centre for Heritage. with Black History Month funding, Co-I with Prof Annie Tindley
• The uses of space by artists within Newcastle and Gateshead, with Kitty McKay, Jenny Mc Namara, Daniel Newberry and Dr. Emma Coffield.
• Making Space / Keeping Space / Extending Space: Building the Impacts of the Sunderland Heritage Lab (Led by Dr. Ashley Mason)
• OpenHeritage (2018-2022) a ‘Research and Innovation Action’ funded under H2020), on adaptive heritage reuse practices and policies. In this project, we look at the practices, processes, and policies of adaptive heritage reuse. Our aim here is to experiment with co-creative, participatory, finance, and management innovations, whilst reflecting on them constructively and critically. With Martin Hulse, John Pendlebury, Ashley Mason, and previously Dr. Emma Ormerod, and Dr. Miranda Iossifidis. Our main case study was in Sunderland (UK).
• Towards more inclusive heritage policies: ‘Blue Plaques’ in Tyne and Wear, with John Pendlebury and the Common Room of the North, see also e.g. here and here
• The Clayton Street Corridor: Engaging the grassroots arts sector. CTC team, PI Dr. Emma Coffield.
• Diversities and Genders, Month Theme in the 'OurWorldHeritage' initiative, recordings can be found on the website as well as on YouTube with Dr. Tokie Laotan-Brown and Prof Sophia Labadi (2021)
• Brexit and Heritage (2017-2018) PI John Pendlebury
• JPI PICH (2015-2018) Conservation planning in Norway, Italy, Ireland, and England, PI John Pendlebury

Postgraduate Researchers I work with

Recently completed

2024 Dr. Byung Choon (Brian) Hwang Community Participation in South Korean Heritage-led Regeneration

2025 Dr. Gulnur Cengiz Narrating Sunderland: Exploring the Complex Relationships between Authorized Heritage, Community Values, and the Evolving Nature of Heritage as a Social Construct

Currently working on their thesis

Elena Balzarini Ecologies of the domestic threshold in UK multi-unit housing

Minki Sung Urban Heritage Sites’ socio-economic and socio-spatial impacts in South Korea. 

Sinan İhtiyaroğlu Exploring the Intersection of Hegemonic Discourse and Local Heritage: Towards a Dialogical Understanding of Adaptive Heritage Reuse

If you are interested in undertaking a PhD with me, please email me your CV and research proposal (maximum 2 pages excl. references). It would also be helpful if you add a brief statement about why you would like to work with me, and if you have funding sources in mind to support you during the PhD. If you need some guidance on how to frame your proposal and application in general, check out these helpful posts: https://hannahmarierobbins.com/blog/resources/ and https://phipps.space/2016/01/05/proposal/ .

I am the Degree Programme Director for the BA (Hons) in Architecture and Urban Planning and teach across the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, on undergrad and postgrad degrees, both studio-based and classroom-based modules.

Currently, I teach on the following modules:

Undergraduate teaching

TCP1027 Shaping Towns and Cities (Planning History, lead)

ARC1007 Architectural Design (project 1)

APL2007 Visual and Creative Research Methods (lead)

APL3007 Dissertation Architecture and Urban Planning

with contributions to TCP1026, TCP2028, APL1003

Postgraduate teaching (involved in)

TCP8955/7 Critical Perspectives on Heritage Practices

TCP8024 Consultancy Project

TCP7024 Conservation & the City

ARC8115 MAUD design studio

ARC8051Tools for Thinking

TCP8099 Urban Planning Dissertation

• Articles

  • Pendlebury J, Veldpaus L, Garrow H. Relationality, place governance and heritage: The Lower Ouseburn Valley, Newcastle upon Tyne and ‘Ouseburnness’. Planning Practice and Research 2023, 38(3), 409-424.
  • Veldpaus L. Planning reform and heritage governance. Planning Practice and Research 2023, 38(3), 331-339.
  • Veldpaus L, Pendlebury J. Heritage as a Vehicle for Development: The Case of Bigg Market, Newcastle upon Tyne. Planning Practice and Research 2023, 38(3), 376-390.
  • Mérai D, Veldpaus L, Pendlebury J, Kip M. The Governance Context for Adaptive Heritage Reuse: A Review and Typology of Fifteen European Countries. The Historic Environment: Policy and Practice 2022, 13(4), 526-546.
  • Mérai D, Veldpaus L. Heritage-Based Post-War Urban Reconstruction in Ukraine: Preparing Future Experts in Higher Education. The Journal of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. Series: History 2022, 62, 262-271.
  • Pendlebury J, Scott M, Veldpaus L, van der Toorn Vrijthoff W, Redmond D. After the Crash: the conservation-planning assemblage in an era of austerity. European Planning Studies 2019, 28(4), 672-690.
  • Pendlebury J, Veldpaus L. Heritage and Brexit. Planning Theory & Practice 2018, 19(3), 448-453.
  • Law A, Veldpaus L. Colonial nostalgia, growth coalitions and urban planning in China. Urbanistica Informazioni 2017, 272(Special issue, part 4), 400-408.
  • Veldpaus L, Pereira Roders A. Learning from a Legacy: Venice to Valletta. Change Over Time 2014, 4(2), 244-263.
  • Veldpaus L, Pereira Roders A, Colenbrander BJF. Urban Heritage: Putting the Past into the Future. The Historic Environment: Policy & Practice 2013, 4(1), 3-18.

• Authored Book

  • Veldpaus L. Historic urban landscapes : framing the integration of urban and heritage planning in multilevel governance. Eindhoven: Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, 2015.

• Book Chapters

  • Merai D, Veldpaus L. Heritage and Planning in Post-War Redevelopment. In: Breddels, L; Tetyana, O; Treffers, F, ed. Urban Coalition for Ukraine: Strategies and Proposals. Berlin: DOM Publishers, 2023, pp.162-164.
  • Mason A, Veldpaus L, Hulse M, Pendlebury J. Gathering a Family Around the Coffee Machine: The People at the Heart of the Sunderland Cooperative Heritage Lab. In: H. Oevermann et al. (eds), ed. Open heritage: community-driven adaptive reuse in Europe: best practice. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2023, pp.36–47.
  • Polyák L, Patti D, Veldpaus L. Enabling Collaboration: Policies and Governance. In: H. Oevermann et al. (eds), ed. Open heritage: community-driven adaptive reuse in Europe: best practice, edited by. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2023, pp.16-20.
  • Mérai D, Fava F, Veldpaus L. Adaptive Heritage Reuse: Mapping Policies and Regulations’. In: H. Oevermann et al. (eds), ed. Open heritage: community-driven adaptive reuse in Europe: best practice. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2023, pp.180–189.
  • Veldpaus L, Szemző H. Heritage as a Matter of Care, and Conservation as Caring for the Matter. In: Angelika Gabauer, Sabine Knierbein, Nir Cohen, Henrik Lebuhn, Kim Trogal, Tihomir Viderman, Tigran Haas, ed. Care and the City: Encounters with Urban Studies. New York: Routledge, 2022, pp.194-203.
  • Veldpaus L. Who Cares?. In: Taylor J; Institute of Historic Building Conservation, ed. Institute of Historic Building Conservation Yearbook 2021. Wiltshire, UK: IHBC; Cathedral Communications Limited, 2021, pp.29-32.
  • Veldpaus L, Kisic V, Stegmeijer E, Janssen J. Towards a More Just World: An Agenda for Transformative Heritage Planning Futures. In: Stegmeijer E; Veldpaus L, ed. A Research Agenda for Heritage Planning: Perspectives from Europe. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishers, 2021, pp.201-220.
  • Stegmeijer E, Veldpaus L, Janssen J. Introduction: The State of Heritage Planning in Europe. In: Stegmeijer E; Veldpaus L, ed. A research agenda for heritage planning: Perspectives from Europe. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021, pp.3-20.
  • Veldpaus L, Wacogne R. Industrial heritage and conservation planning, changing governance practices, examples from Europe. In: Stegmeijer, E; Veldpaus, L, ed. A Research Agenda for Heritage Planning: Perspectives from Europe. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021, pp.75-86.
  • Veldpaus L, Bokhove Helma. Integrating Policy: The Historic Urban Landscape Approach in Amsterdam. In: Pereira Roders, A.; Bandarin, F, ed. Reshaping Urban Conservation: The Historic Urban Landscape Approach in Action. Singapore: Springer, 2019, pp.111-122.
  • Veldpaus L, Pereira Roders A. Historic urban landscape approach as a tool for sustainable urban heritage management. In: Asikainen S; Brites C; Plebańczyk K; Rogač Mijatović L; Soini K, ed. Culture in sustainability: towards a transdisciplinary approach. Helsinki: University of Jyväskylä, 2017, pp.61-73.
  • Veldpaus L. Amsterdam: Heritage policy analysis tool for the HUL approach. In: The HUL Guidebook: Managing heritage in dynamic and constantly changing urban environments. Ballarat, Shanghai: WHITRAP, City of Ballarat, Tongji University, Federation University Australia, 2016, pp.50-55.

• Edited Books

  • Stegmeijer E, Veldpaus L, ed. Research Agenda for Heritage Planning: Perspectives from Europe. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021.
  • Tomka G, Kisic V, Veldpaus L, ed. Dossier Petrovaradin: Managing Historic Urban Landscapes. Novi Sad, Serbia; Belgrade, Serbia: Faculty of sport and tourism, Novi Sad; Europa Nostra Belgrade; Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the City of Novi Sad, 2019.

• Online Publications

  • Veldpaus L, Mason A, Iossifidis M. Policy Brief #04 A roadmap for the EU and Europe: Integrating adaptive heritage reuse in wider EU policies, programmes and practices. Bonn, Germany: ICLEI, 2022. Available at: https://openheritage.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Open-Heritage-policy-brief-4.pdf.
  • Veldpaus L, Krajewska O, Miah J, Szemzö H. Adaptive Heritage Reuse: Learning from policy and governance frameworks across Europe. ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, 2020. Available at: https://openheritage.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Open-Heritage-policy-brief-01-pages.pdf.

• Report

  • Veldpaus L, Pendlebury J. Brexit & Heritage: report ESRC IAA funded workshop. Newcastle upon Tyne: Global Urban Research Unit, Newcastle University, 2017.

• Reviews

  • Veldpaus L. Reconnecting the city: the historic urban landscape approach and the future of urban heritage [Book review]. Cultural Trends 2015, 24(4), 340-342.
  • Veldpaus L. Heritage management and sustainable development in perspective: theory, law, and practice. Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development 2015, 5(3).