Dr Richard Bower

(he/him)

Publication

• Date
• Type

Research

My theoretical research explores the critique of anthropocentric design and sustainability through the lens of speculative realism and posthumanism. I am currently working on a monograph titled Finding the Energy to Care: Toward an Energetic Metaphysics for an Exhausted World and a creative research project, FERAL Volume 1: Aesthetics of Abundance (2026). Recent outputs exploring these themes of post-anthropocentric ethics and more-than-human consciousness help frame an interdisciplinary ‘ecology of ideas’ approach to creative research thinking.

My research is broadly engaged with ‘Futures’ thinking as a conceptual framework to contest the normative implications of global inaction on climate change. This involves exploring 'Future Generations' as a design parameter, seeking to move beyond descriptive normativity toward prescriptive ethics that account for long-term ecological and social resilience.

I also have longstanding relationship with research on the history of informal design and the UK Plotlands. By documenting these alternative housing histories, I interrogate the intersection of informal spatial practices and contemporary ethics of care, heritage, and socio-cultural inequities. This work coalesces around the continuing development of a collaborative Plotlands Digital Archive to highlight critical lessons for alternative design, planning policy, and creative spatial practice research.

Previous collaborative research explorations have included explorations of urban cycling from the perspective of children (‘Unadulterated Cycling’), cultures of migration narrated in urban food, the ‘slow city’ movement, and the history of plotlander housing in the UK. Prior to this my research monograph Architecture and Space Reimagined (Routledge, 2016) highlighted critical intersections in the works of Henri Lefebvre and Doreen Massey through examples of alternative design and spatial practice by John Turner and Nabeel Hamdi.

Teaching

I am the Course Director for the MSc International Planning and Urban Design (IPUD), where I lead the Urban Theory Provocations and Postgraduate Research Methods modules. I also lead the Urban Development Debates module where we explore the implications of ‘contextual sustainability’ for urban design ethics as part of our MA Urban Design (MAUD) programme.

My teaching practice seeks to develop theoretical explorative studio pedagogies that integrate speculative design with critical urban theory. I also supervise student research dissertations across the school’s geography and planning programs.

Biography

• 2014: PhD (Architecture and Cultural Geography), Plymouth University, UK
• 2008: Post-Graduate Diploma in Humane Architecture
• 2008: Graduate Diploma in Architecture

Academic positions

• 2015 - 2017: University of Central Lancashire School of Architecture - Lecturer in Design and Critical Cultural Theory
• 2009 - 2014: Plymouth University School of Architecture - Associate Lecturer in Architectural History and Theory

Supervisions

I am available to supervise PhD projects that utilise contemporary philosophical frameworks—such as speculative realism, post-humanism, and new materialism—to interrogate questions of design, cities, and ecology. I am particularly interested in proposals related to:

• More-than-human urbanism and environmental ethics.

• Creative methodologies for exploring post anthropocentric research.

• Design futures and "Future Generations" thinking.

• Alternative housing and informal spatial practices.

Current supervision

Fabiana D'Ascenzo

Jessica Duke