Cities Research Team

Background

I joined Newcastle University in 1998 as an undergraduate in Geographic Information Science, a course which I now find myself teaching over 20 years later! I have worked as a researcher applying GIS to a number of diverse applications, including land-use change, climate simulations, urban classification, transport modelling, and risk assessment. Since 2019 I have been a Lecturer in Geospatial Data Analytics in the Geospatial Engineering group. I have worked as a Principle Investigator, Co-Investigator, and Research Associate on many of multi-disciplinary projects, funded by UKRI, the European Commission, and government.

I am a member of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, having joined in 2006 work on the Tyndall Cities programme conducting urban integrated assessment of climate change adaptation and mitigation in London. This work led to the EPSRC ARCADIA project, examining and modelling urban climate impacts, and the FP7 RAMSES project, conducting cost assessments of urban climate adaptation options. These projects allowed me to develop collaborations in London, Shanghai, Antwerp, Bilbao, and Newcastle with city decision-makers, industrial stakeholders, and NGO organisations.

The focus of my research is the provision of tools and models to aid decision-makers. Currently, I am developing geospatial analytical tools within GIS for integrated spatial modelling and assessment of climate change impacts and socio-economic/land-use change. I have recently held funding from the Alan Turing Institute on a project developing Stategic Digital Twins for sustainable urban planning, appliying these approaches in the Oxford Cambridge Arc and the Northern Powerhouse regions of the UK.

Parallel work has developed these concepts further to include the direct and indirect impacts of climate events on city systems in the form of heatwaves or flood events. In ARCADIA, I have examined the impact of extreme temperatures on railway networks and the knock-on effects these disruptions can have on the wider urban economy. This work was further developed in RAMSES, including new climate hazards (e.g. extreme rainfall and air quality) in order to better understand the true costs of future climate change to urban areas. I have also supervised PhD students working on exploring the impacts of climate events on urban systems, particularly transport networks (see publications).

I have presented my work widely at national and international conferences and symposia, and facilitated and moderated at events such as the ICLEI Open European Day in Bonn. I am also actively involved in wider engagement around climate change, working with Cap-a-Pie theatre company on the Green Gown Award-winning 'Climate Change Catastrophe' project, which was exhibited at COP26 in Glasgow. I chair the 'Science Speakeasy' sessions at the Life Science Centre, where I have also contributed to videos raising awareness of climate-related research.

I also contribute to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, delivering lectures on GIS, spatial modelling, and climate change in urban areas. I am currently module leader of CEG1702 (Geographic Information Systems), CEG3701 (Advanced GIS Fieldcourse) and CEG3717 (Applied Geospatial Data Handling) and I deliver lectures for other modules including CEG8714 (Climate Impacts and Adaptation). I have also delivered a number of courses to local governments and consultancies involved in climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts.

Qualifications

1998-2001: 1st Class Honours in Geographic Information Science

2015-2019: PhD in Geospatial Engineering entitled 'Integrated Models of Land-use and Transport in the Context of Climate Change'.

Previous Positions

2014 - 2017 Research Associate (EU FP7) RAMSES project – Reconciling Adaptation, Mitigation, and Sustainable Development for Cities. Working on the development of new climate hazards into city-scale impact assessment (including surface-water flooding and air quality), application to non-EU cities for the first time, and managing the city-level analysis work package.

2012- 2014 Research Associate (Tyndall Centre Research Fellow) university-funded research role advancing development of decision-support tools and spatial models for assessment of climate change impacts. Application of tools to new cities (Paris, Innsbruck). Conversion of analysis tools and models to open-source framework for improved transferability and flexibility.

2010 - 2012 Research Associate (EPSRC) ARCADIA Project (EP/G061254/1): Adaptation and Resilience in Cities: Analysis and Decision making using Integrated Assessment. Research Assistant, Newcastle University. Further development of the models and tools created in previous research in order to improve the spatial modelling capabilities and gain new insights into the impacts of climate change and to test the resilience of cities under differing adaptation scenarios.

2010 Research Assistant (EPSRC) SCORCHIO (EP/E017665/1) Sustainable Cities: Options for Responding to Climate Change Impacts and Outcomes. Development of spatial decision support tool for climate vulnerability assessment. Allowing decision-makers and community leaders to assess their vulnerability to future climate change and understand the factors that contribute to resilience.

2006 -2010 Research Assistant Tyndall Centre for Climate Change, Engineering Cities Programme. Development of GIS-based spatial land-use transport model of London to 2100 for assessment of climate impacts. Collaborating with other leading research groups within the UK, notably CASA at UCL, a model of transport networks for London was developed to allow the examination of accessibility across the city under differing future investment scenarios. Software development, data analysis and algorithm design.

2008-2009 Research Assistant (EPSRC) SWERVE (Severe Weather Events: Risk and Vulnerability Estimator)

2005-2012 GIS CPD course development and delivery. Delivered over 20 week-long CPD courses to academia, industry, government, and charitable organisations.

2005 - 2006 Research Assistant (Environment Agency-funded): Development of EARWIG weather generator user interface to climate change models.

2004 - 2005 Research Assistant (DFID-funded): Co-development of EXCLAIM web tool for catchment modelling.

2004 Internship with ESRI, Redlands, California. Working with 3D team on software development and improving the implementation of 3D data-types within GIS.

2002 Industrial placement with Shell, Netherlands. 3D GIS in the oil and gas exploration and production industry: working with GIS users, including engineers and geologists, to implement GIS in their application areas and develop 3D GIS capabilities in a commercial environment.

Roles and Responsibilities

Director of Student Experience, EPSRC Geospatial Systems CDT

Admissions Tutor, Geospatial Engineering

Member of University Sustainable Development Goals Committee

Research Interests

The focus of my research is the provision of tools and models to aid decision-makers. Currently, I am developing spatial analytical tools within GIS for integrated spatial modelling and assessment of climate change impacts and socio-economic/land-use change. This work has involved both the development of spatial interfaces to climate change outputs (e.g., EARWIG) and also spatially-explicit models of city infrastructure for predictive land-use modelling and climate change impact assessment (e.g., Tyndall Cities programme).

Recent work has developed these concepts further to include the direct and indirect impacts of climate events on city systems in the form of heatwaves or flood events. In ARCADIA, I have examined the impact of extreme temperatures on railway networks and the knock-on effects these disruptions can have on the wider urban economy. This work will be further developed in RAMSES, including new climate hazards (e.g. extreme rainfall and air quality) in order to better understand the true costs of future climate change to urban areas.

Another common theme in my research to date has been the integration and linking of data, processes, concepts and typologies from disparate application areas and specialist fields; my PhD research empowering the integration of various oil and gas datasets for decision-support, the EARWIG project linking expert models to provide a single user-oriented tool and the Tyndall Cities work providing a flow of data from land-use transport models to ward-level urban development simulation. This research has examined the interaction of both spatial and non-spatial data, giving me an appreciation of the numerous interactions which occur within the process of integrated assessment.

Working with a range of scientists, engineers and economists has also allowed me to gain an understanding of the role of spatial tools within the decision-support framework and the role of the spatial models within the greater adaptation and mitigation testing process. This has helped me broaden my experience of modelling processes and data fusion, examining the mapping of UK census data to socio-economic and industrial classifications and gaining an appreciation of the holistic and cross-disciplinary nature of the whole system approach to decision-making.

Other Expertise

Development of transport cost models through complex network analysis.

Cellular automata modelling and multi-criteria analysis

Development of decision-support tools within commercial GIS software ensuring availability to a wide audience.

Postgraduate Supervision

Dr Maria Pregnolato - 'Urban infrastructure dynamics'

Dr James Virgo - 'Co-evolution of Cities and Infrastructure'

Dr Craig Robson - 'A spatial database framework for the modelling and analysis of spatially complex interdependent networks'

Esteem Indicators

Invited Speaker - SESSYNC Workshop on Model Integration, Annapolis, USA, January 2015

Invited Session Moderator, ICLEI Open European Day, 2013 and 2014

Invited Speaker - Shell Geomatics Conference, Cairo, 2003

Module leader of:

CEG1702 - Geographic Information Systems

CEG3701 - Advanced GIS Fieldcourse

CEG3717 - Applied Geospatial Data Handling

CEG8704: Theory and Application in Geographic Information Systems

Contributor to:

CEG8716 -Geospatial Informatics with Project

CEG8514- Climate Change: Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation

• Articles

  • Yang H, Wu Z, Dawson RJ, Barr S, Ford A, Li Y. Quantifying surface urban heat island variations and patterns: Comparison of two cities in three-stage dynamic rural–urban transition. Sustainable Cities and Society 2024, 109, 105538.
  • Alvarez Castro D, Ford A, James P, Palacin R, Ziemke D. A MATSim model methodology to generate cycling-focused transport scenarios in England. Journal of Urban Mobility 2024, 5, 100078.
  • Chen X, Wang Z, Yang H, Ford AC, Dawson RJ. Impacts of urban densification and vertical growth on urban heat environment: A case study in the 4th Ring Road area, Zhengzhou, China. Journal of Cleaner Production 2023, 410, 137247.
  • Chen X, Wang Z, Yang H, Ford AC, Dawson RJ. Enhanced urban growth modelling: Incorporating regional development heterogeneity and noise reduction in a cellular automata model - a case study of Zhengzhou, China. Sustainable Cities and Society 2023, 99, 104959.
  • Heidrich O, Ford A, Dawson RJ, Manning D, Mohareb E, Raugei M, Baars J, Rajaeifar MA. LAYERS: A Decision-Support Tool to Illustrate and Assess the Supply and Value Chain for the Energy Transition. Sustainability 2022, 14(12), 7120.
  • Jenkins K, Ford A, Robson C, Nicholls R. Identifying adaptation ‘on the ground’: Development of a UK adaptation Inventory. Climate Risk Management 2022, 36, 100430.
  • Lomax N, Smith AP, Archer L, Ford A, Virgo J. An Open-Source Model for Projecting Small Area Demographic and Land-Use Change. Geographical Analysis 2022, 54(3), 599-622.
  • Robson C, Barr S, Ford A, James P. The structure and behaviour of hierarchical infrastructure networks. Applied Network Science 2021, 6(1), 65.
  • Alvarez Castro D, Ford A. 3D Agent-Based Model of Pedestrian Movements for Simulating COVID-19 Transmission in University Students. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information 2021, 10(8), 509.
  • Ford A, Barr S, Dawson R, Virgo J, Batty M, Hall J. A multi-scale urban integrated assessment framework for climate change studies: A flooding application. Computers, Environment, and Urban Systems 2019, 75, 229-243.
  • Heidrich O, Cherry B, Yakovleva N, Manning D, Ford A. Special K: potassium production. TRANSFORM 2018, December 2018.
  • Ford A, Dawson R, Blythe P, Barr S. Land-use transport models for climate change mitigation and adaptation planning. Journal of Transport and Land Use 2018, 11(1), 83-101.
  • Guerreiro SB, Dawson RJ, Kilsby C, Lewis E, Ford A. Future heat-waves, droughts and floods in 571 European cities. Environmental Research Letters 2018, 13(3), 034009.
  • Pregnolato M, Ford A, Wilkinson SM, Dawson RJ. The impact of flooding on road transport: A depth-disruption function. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 2017, 55, 67-81.
  • Pregnolato M, Ford A, Glenis V, Wilkinson S, Dawson R. Impact of climate change on disruption to urban transport networks from pluvial flooding. Journal of Infrastructure Systems 2017, 23(4), 04017015.
  • Dunn S, Wilkinson S, Ford A. Spatial Structure and Evolution of Infrastructure Networks. Sustainable Cities and Society 2016, 27, 23-31.
  • Pregnolato M, Ford A, Robson C, Glenis V, Barr S, Dawson RJ. Assessing urban strategies for reducing the impacts of extreme weather on infrastructure networks. Royal Society Open Science 2016, 3(5), 160023.
  • Ford A, Barr S, Dawson R, James P. Transport Accessibility Analysis Using GIS: Assessing Sustainable Transport in London. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information 2015, 4(1), 124-149.
  • Jenkins K, Glenis V, Ford A, Hall J. A Probabilistic Risk-Based Approach to Addressing Impacts of Climate Change on Cities: The Tyndall Centre’s Urban Integrated Assessment Framework. UGEC Viewpoints 2012, 8, 8-11.
  • Walsh CL, Dawson RJ, Hall JW, Barr SL, Batty M, Bristow AL, Carney S, Dagoumas A, Ford AC, Harpham C, Tight MR, Watters H, Zanni A. Assessment of climate change mitigation & adaptation in cities. Urban Design and Planning 2011, 164(2), 75-84.
  • Dawson RJ, Hall JW, Walsh CL, Barker T, Barr SL, Batty M, Bristow A, Burton A, Carney S, Dagoumas A, Evans S, Ford AC, Glennis V, Goodess C, Harpham C, Harwatt H, Kilsby CG, Kohler J, Jones P, Manning L, McCarthy M, Sanderson M, Tight M, Timms M, Zanni A. The Tyndall Centre’s Urban Integrated Assessment Facility. UGEC Viewpoints 2010, 3, 8-12.
  • Kilsby CG, Jones PD, Burton A, Ford AC, Fowler HJ, Harpham C, James P, Smith A, Wilby RL. A daily weather generator for use in climate change studies. Environmental Modelling and Software 2007, 22(12), 1705-1719.
  • Bramald T, Ford A, Kirkbride G. Using GI to support the G&Ts. GIS Professional 2006, (12), 37-38.

• Book Chapters

  • Bernie D, Garry F, Jenkins K, Arnell N, Dawkins L, Ford A, Kennedy-Asser A, O'Hare P, Perks R, Ramsey V, Sayers P. What Has Been Learned About Converting Climate Hazard Data to Climate Risk Information?. In: Dessai, S;Lonsdale, K; Lowe, J;Harcourt, R, ed. Quantifying Climate Risk and Building Resilience in the UK. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2024, pp.163–176.
  • Pregnolato M, Jaroszweski D, Ford A, Dawson RJ. Climate extremes and their implications for impact modeling in transport. In: Sillman, J.; Sippel, S.; Russo, S, ed. Climate Extremes and Their Implications for Impact and Risk Assessment. Oxford, UK: Elsevier, 2020, pp.195-216.
  • Dawson RJ, Hall JW, Barr SL, Batty M, Bristow A, Carney S, Dagoumas A, Evans S, Ford AC, Harwatt H, Kohler J, Tight M, Walsh CL, Zanni A. A blueprint for the integrated assessment of climate change in cities. In: Tang, K, ed. Green CITYnomics: The Urban War against Climate Change. Sheffield: Greenleaf Publishing, 2009, pp.32-52.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • Liu Y, Yang S, Dawson R, Ford A, Tang J. Flood Impact to Urban Transport Networks Considering the Flooding Propagation. In: EGU General Assembly 2023. 2023, Vienna and Virtual: Copernicus GmbH.
  • Hepburn J, Fairbairn D, James P, Ford A. How do decision makers interact with geospatial data? An eye tracking study. In: 30th International Cartographic Conference (ICC 2021). 2021, Florence, Italy: Copernicus Publications.
  • Hepburn J, Fairbairn D, James P, Ford A. Do we need legends? An eye tracking study. In: 29th Annual GIS Research UK Conference (GISRUK 2021). 2021, Cardiff.
  • Heidrich O, Manning D, Ford A, Panzone L, Yakovleva N, Fernandez J, Ciceri D, Allanore A, Villarroel-Walker R. The potassium cycle to feed the city. In: 9th Biennial Conference of the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE)- Science in Support of Sustainable and Resilient Communities. 2017, Chicago, IL, USA: ISIE.
  • Pregnolato M, Ford A, Heidrich O, Dawson R. Impact of pluvial flooding and adaptation in urban transport systems. In: 7th International Conference on Flood Management (ICFM7). 2017, Leeds, UK.
  • Robson C, Barr SL, James P, Ford A. A framework for modelling the impact of spatial hazards on critical infrastructure networks. In: GISRUK. 2017, Manchester, UK.
  • Pregnolato M, Ford A, Dawson R. Disruption and adaptation of urban transport networks from flooding. In: 3rd European Conference on Flood Risk Management (FLOODrisk 2016). 2016, Lyon: EDP Sciences.
  • Heidrich O, Ford A, Alderson D, Dawson R, Manning D. UK climate change strategies in cities and the LAYERS of cobalt supplies. In: International Society of Industrial Ecology-Taking Stock. 2015, Surrey, UK.
  • Robson C, Barr S, James P, Ford A. Spatially modelling dependent infrastructure networks. In: GISRUK. 2015, Leeds.
  • Ford A, Pregnolato M, Jenkins K, Barr S, Dawson R. Assessing the need for infrastructure adaptation by simulating impacts of extreme weather events on urban transport infrastructure. In: GISRUK 2015. 2015, Leeds, UK.
  • Pregnolato M, Ford A, Dawson R. Analysis Of The Risk of Transport Infrastructure Disruption From Extreme Rainfall. In: 12th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering, ICASP12. 2015, Vancouver, B.C., Canada: University of British Columbia.
  • Alderson David, Barr Stuart, Holderness Tomas, Robson Craig, Ford Alistair. A geospatial relational database schema for interdependent network analysis and modelling. 2015. Submitted.
  • Alderson D, Barr SL, Holderness T, Robson C, Ford A, Kennedy-Walker R. A geospatial relational database schema for interdependent network analysis and modelling. In: 23rd GIS Research UK (GISRUK). 2015, Leeds, UK.
  • Ford A, Jenkins K, Dawson R, Pregnolato M, Barr S, Hall J. Simulating impacts of extreme weather events on urban transport infrastructure in the UK. In: ISNGI 2014. 2014, Vienna, Austria.
  • Robson C, Barr S, James P, Ford A. Resilience of hierarchical critical infrastructure networks. In: International Symposium for Next Generation Infrastructure. 2014, Vienna, Austria.
  • Walsh CL, Dawson RJ, Ford AC, Barr SL, Hall JW, Batty M. Assessing flood risk in London under climate and land use change. In: International Conference on Flood Resilience Experiences in Asia and Europe. 2013, Exeter, UK.
  • Dawson RJ, Walsh CL, Hall JW, Barr SL, Batty M, Bristow AL, Carney S, Dagoumas A, Ford A, Tight MR, Watters H, Zanni AM. Integrated assessment for climate sensitive urban design in London. In: International Conference on Water Sensitive Urban Design. 2012, Melbourne, Australia.
  • Alderson D, Robson C, Holderness T, Barr SL, Ford A. An open source spatial database schema and interface for the storage, representation and analysis of interdependent infrastructure networks. In: ITRC Early Career Researchers Conference: Infrastructure Delivery in an Uncertain Future. 2012, Clare College, Cambridge, UK: Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium UK (ITRC).
  • Barr SL, Holderness T, Alderson D, Robson C, Ford A. An open source relational database schema and system for the analysis of large scale spatially interdependent infrastructure networks. In: 4th Open Source GIS Conference - OSGIS 2012. 2012, Nottingham: Nottingham Geospatial Institute, University of Nottingham.
  • Walsh CL, Ford AC, Barr SL, Dawson RJ. A spatio-temporal modelling framework for the integrated assessment of cities. In: Earth Systems Engineering 2012: A technical symposium on systems engineering for sustainable adaptation to global change. 2012, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Centre for Earth Systems Engineering Research, Newcastle University.
  • Ford A, Barr S, Dawson R, Batty M, Hall J. INTEGRATING A GIS BASED LAND-USE TRANSPORT MODEL AND CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT ASSESSMENT ANALYSIS FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT OF LONDON TO 2100. In: PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SUSTAINABLE URBANIZATION (ICSU 2010). 2010, AG701, CHUNG SZE YUEN BLDG, HUNG HOM, KOWLOON, HONG KONG 00000, PEOPLES R CHINA: HONG KONG POLYTECHNIC UNIV, FAC CONSTRUCTION & ENVIRONMENT.
  • Hall JW, Dawson RJ, Barr SL, Batty M, Bristow AL, Carnet S, Dagoumas A, Ford A, Tight MR, Walsh CL, Watters H, Zanni AM. City-scale integrated assessment of climate impacts, adaptation and mitigation. In: 5th Urban Research Symposium. 2009, Marseille, France: World Bank.
  • Ford AC, James PM. Integration of 3D petroleum datasets in commercial GIS. In: 8th AGILE Conference on GI-Science. 2005, Estoril, Portugal: Association Geographic Information Laboratories Europe.

• Editorial

  • Jones MP, Walker MM, Ford AC, Talley NJ. Editorial: The overlap of atopy and functional gastrointestinal disorders in primary care - Authors' reply. Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics 2014, 40(10), 1244-1245.

• Reports

  • Hall JW, Dawson RJ, Walsh CL, Barker T, Barr SL, Batty M, Bristow AL, Burton A, Carney S, Dagoumas A, Evans S, Ford AC, Glenis V, Goodess CG, Harpham C, Harwatt H, Kilsby CG, Kohler J, Jones P, Manning L, McCarthy M, Sanderson M, Tight MR, Timms PM, Zanni A. Engineering Cities: How can cities grow whilst reducing emissions and vulnerability?. The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, 2009.
  • Dawson RJ, Hall JW, Barr SL, Batty M, Bristow A, Carney S, Evans S, Ford A, Köhler J, Tight M, Walsh CL. A blueprint for the integrated assessment of climate change in cities. Tyndall Centre for Climate Change, 2007. 104.