Dr Andrew Belfield

School of Architecture and Landscape

Architecture Agency Fellow

Andrew Belfield
Profile picture of Andrew Belfield
andrew.belfield@sheffield.ac.uk
Arts Tower

Full contact details

Dr Andrew Belfield
School of Architecture and Landscape
Arts Tower
Western Bank
Sheffield
S10 2TN
Profile
I'm the Architecture Agency Fellow at the School of Architecture and Landscape, the ±¬ÁÏTV.
 
My research explores the fields of design, architecture and urban planning, focusing on citizen participation, co-design, socio-ecological justice and civic resilience. I hold a PhD (2025) in Architecture from the ±¬ÁÏTV; my thesis was funded by the ESRC and titled .
 
My current Fellowship research is titled 'Agency Now, Agency Futures', which investigates new concepts, practices, and pedagogies that nurture agency in people, cities and the natural world towards socio-ecological justice. 
 
Outside the university, I'm a director at , a non-profit critical design practice that occupies the terrain between art, architecture and research. Working with an extended network of interdisciplinary collaborators, public works aims to re-work spatial, social and economic opportunities towards citizen-driven development. 
Qualifications
  • PhD - School of Architecture and Landscape, UoS
  • Master of Social Research - Sheffield Methods Institute UoS
  • Master of Architecture - Royal College of Art
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
Research interests
My research falls into three main areas:
 
(1) Design agency and critical spatial practice: research on participatory design(ers), design tactics and design as a catalyst towards socio-ecological justice.
 
(2) Co-produced urbanism, commoning and civic pedagogies: primarily through practice-based design research exploring citizen participation in the co-production of built environments.
 
(3) Just transitions: explorations of socio-ecological justice, circular and regenerative urban systems and civic resilience.  
 
My approach is grounded in action, focusing on design and practice-based methodologies, with particular emphasis on co-design. This is combined with a Master's in Social Research, utilising qualitative social sciences methods to evaluate and analyse findings.
Publications

Journal articles

  • Keller C, Bernhardt F, Cermeño H, Belfield A, Goff D, Hamedinger A, Holmqvist E, Koch F, Petrescu D & Schalk M (2026) . Cities, 173, 106883-106883.
  • Can E, Alexandrescu M, Belfield A, Al-Dalal’a J, Scharf L & Petrescu D (2025) . Dimensions. Journal of Architectural Knowledge, 4(8), 329-350.
  • Belfield A (2025) . Buildings and Cities, 6(1), 969-985.
  • Can E, Alexandrescu M, Belfield A, Al-Dalal’a J, Scharf L & Petrescu D (2024) . Dimensions. Journal of Architectural Knowledge, 4(8), 329-350.
  • Belfield A & Petrescu D (2024) . CoDesign, 21(2), 171-194.
  • Antaki N, Belfield A & Moore T (2024) . Antipode, 56(5), 1509-1534.
  • Petrescu D, Cermeño H, Keller C, Moujan C, Belfield A, Koch F, Goff D, Schalk M & Bernhardt F (2022) . Urban Planning, 7(3), 254-273.
Research group

Designing Just Spaces 

Grants

ESRC Grant number: 2449231

Teaching interests
Andy is an experienced lecturer in architecture and urban design, working across many UK and European universities at Master's and Bachelor's levels. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and is committed to 'live project' and research-based teaching.