Dr Alessio Koliulis

Research summary

• I hold a Joint PhD in Art and Technology (Paris 8) and Urban Planning (Rome La Sapienza) and have a background in development economics.
• My interests are at the intersection of critical urban theory and economic geography. This led to a doctoral dissertation on the electronic music industry, which analysed the links between night-time economies, urban space, and techno cultures in London and Detroit.
• Since 2020, I am working on different research outputs and publications that are mainly focused on the analysis night-time economies and work (see publications); and I am currently writing a book that develops the arguments of my doctoral research by providing a new understanding of the role of cultural and creative industries in the hi-tech economies of cities.
• More broadly my interests fall within two themes: 1) inequalities, urbanisation and global development; and 2) Technological innovation and the cultural and creative industries.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow (NITE-HERA)

• I am currently working as Research Fellow at the UCL Urban Lab. The project Night spaces: migration, culture, and integration in Europe (NITE) funded by the Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA) focuses on eight European cities, to understand how night spaces are produced, imagined, experienced, and narrated by migrant communities in Europe.

Impact and Policy Engagement

• Following a research I conducted on municipal strategies for nocturnal workers with the think tank Autonomy, I collaborate with the Greater London Authority 24-hour team and London's Night Czar Amy Lamé on piloting new infrastructures for delivery workers.

• I am part of the steering group looking at formulating a night living wage for night workers in London, and I am part of Camden’s Evening & Night Time Economy Strategy Expert Advisory Group.

• I worked as economist for the VibeLab/GIZ research project Cultural and creative industries - drivers of development. The research analysed the impact of the pandemic on the Music, Fashion, and Design industries in Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Senegal, South Africa.
• I worked as a mentor for the finalists of the Creative Cities Challenge, a Global Innovation Collaborative initiative between Berlin, London, New York, and Paris to leverage collective innovation and recovery from Covid-19.
• I have collaborated with The London Borough of Islington's Inclusive Economy Team on programmes to make urban economies, its creative industries and tech sectors, more equal and inclusive.

Teaching summary

I am Lecturer/Assistant Professor and Co-Programme Leader of the MSc Programme in Urban Economic Development at The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The Bartlett School of Architecture (University College London). I have an interdisciplinary approach to teaching, combining critical theories with situated practice for the study of urban economic development. I currently teach two modules:

• DEVP0038 Urbanisation and Development for the postgraduate MSc Programme in Urban Economic Development. This module offers a critical introduction to the key economic concepts, theories and tools applied to problem diagnosis and policymaking in urbanisation and development;
• DEVP0051 Economic Policy Evaluation Tools for the postgraduate MSc Programme in Urban Economic Development. The objective of this module is to introduce and critically assess methods and tools used by urban economic development policy makers and practitioners to evaluate policy choices, both before and after projects and policies have been approved.

I also contribute to other core modules of the MSc Programme in Urban Economic Development:

• DEVP0018 Managing the City Economy. This module is designed to enhance the understanding of the city economy and train students in the application of economic criteria to the analysis and management of the city economy in both developing and developed countries.
• DEVP0019 Practice in Urban Economic Development. This module explores the challenges of promoting inclusive economic development in urban areas both in developing and developed countries, offering students real-life platforms to examine the experiences of urban economic development and management practices.
• I taught for three years the undergraduate module BASC0018 Urban Inequalities and Global Development for UCL BASc Arts and Science Programme. This module is taught to undergraduate students and takes a critical look at ‘the urban’ in the context of development, globalization, and environmental change.

Education

Doctorate, Joint PhD Aesthetics, sciences and technologies of the Arts (Paris 8) and Urban Planning (Rome La Sapienza) |

University College London

Other Postgraduate qualification (including professional), ATQ02 - Recognised by the HEA as an Associate Fellow | 2019

Publications

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