DrArthur Parkinson

Arthur Parkinson is a Lecturer in Planning and Urban Design in the School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Architectural Studies (2001), and an MSc in Urban Design (2004), both from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, and completed a PhD in planning at UCD in 2015. He is a member of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) and is accredited by the RIAI as a Conservation Architect (Grade II). He is lead author of Urban Heritage and Contested Planning: Making Use of Ireland’s Built Past (Manchester University Press, 2026, with Mark Scott).

Arthur’s research is primarily focused on the cultural politics of heritage, conservation-planning policy and practice, and design in historic contexts. He is currently researching the competing heritage discourses that frame the ongoing planning conflict at Moore Street, Dublin. Arthur was previously engaged in research examining shifts in the management of historic urban cores in Ireland in the wake of the economic crisis of 2008, in the Project entitled 'A Sustainable Future for the Historic Urban Core' (SHUC). For more details on these, see under the 'Research' tab, above. His doctoral thesis was completed under the UCD PhD Programme in Sustainable Development, a Graduate Research Education Programme funded by the Irish Research Council, and was supervised by Prof. Mark Scott and Assoc. Prof. Declan Redmond. Arthur has presented at a number of major international conferences and published his research in leading peer-reviewed international journals. Prior to commencing PhD research, he worked for ten years in professional practice in the fields of architectural conservation and urban design, in both Ireland and Scotland. Arthur has designed, coordinated and delivered undergraduate and graduate lecture and studio-based modules in urban design, spatial planning, and local planning. He also developed and coordinated a new design thesis module offered as an option on the MSc Urban Design & Planning programme.