Dr Andrea Palmioli is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture and Built Environment at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC), where he serves as Deputy Head, Director of the Urban Innovation Lab, and Co-Director of the Institute of Asia Pacific Studies (FHSS). Prior to UNNC, he held visiting appointments at the Needham Research Institute (University of Cambridge), City University of Hong Kong (Architecture & Civil Engineering), and The University of Hong Kong (Division of Landscape Architecture), and was a UKNA Fellow at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and Tianjin University. He holds PhDs in Urbanism (IUAV, University of Venice) and Architecture (ED-VTT, Université Paris-Est).

His research advances entanglement theory for urbanism: coupling multi-capital agencies—ecological, infrastructural, historical, institutional, social—into synergies across territorial scales. He develops bioregional frameworks for diffuse urbanisation, aligning landscape systems with governance and metrics. He also advances toponymy as planning intelligence, conceptualising placenames as cultural–ecological agencies. A second strand examines the political ecologies of space under platform governance and aesthetic regimes—how standards, branding, and data infrastructures shape belonging, access, and legitimation—and how grassroots practices re-open spaces of emancipation and counter-politics. Empirically, his work focuses on extended urbanisation in China’s YRD/PRD with Global South comparisons, combining trans-scalar mapping and territorial analytics to prototype implementable strategies beyond the urban–rural divide.

Professional Membership

-       Associate Researcher, IPRAUS-AUSser (UMR No. 3329), French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)

-       Licensed Architect (№ 1689). Italian National Order. Council of Architects, Planners, Landscapers and Conservators (CNAPPC).

-       Vertical Design Studio 3a (BSc)

-       Integrated Design in Architecture 3 (BSc)

-       Urban Design Theory (BSc)

-       People, Buildings, Landscape (BSc)

-       Principles of Urban Development (MSc)

PhD Opportunities

There are opportunities for PhD studentship at The University of Nottingham Ningbo China. A Master’s degree in architecture, urban studies, environmental engineering, geography, or a related field; good programming skills; experience in handling datasets and GIS software are preferred. Excellent English skills are required.

All candidates will be evaluated based on their merits and qualifications, without regard to gender, race, age, or religion. Interested applicants in the below research areas are welcome to contact Dr Palmioli for more information.

-       Entangled Urbanisms

-       Toponymic Landscape Intelligence

-       Media, Aesthetic Governance and Spatial Legitimacy

-       Bioregional Design & Metrics

-       Comparative Diffuse Urbanisation

-       Global South Territorialities

Research Projects

2020-2024

Project Title: Identifying Rural Cultural Landscape from Village Place Names: Mapping for “Ecological Civilization” in the Lower Yangzi Delta, founded by General Grant, National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). Role: Principal Investigator

2020-2021

Project Title: Literally Hong Kong: Mapping the urban narratives of building names, funded by Design Trust Seed Grant, Hong Kong Ambassadors of Design. Role: Principal Investigator

2019-2021

Project Title: Inventory of China's Traditional Landscapes in Yangtze and Pearl River Deltas: Connecting Ethnophysiography and Applied Toponymy, funded by City University of Hong Kong. Role: Principal Investigator

2019-2020

Project Title: China's Cultural Landscape Reconnaissance: Coupling Applied Toponymy and Ethnophysiography, funded by CityU Strategic Research Grant (SRG-Fd) for GRF/ECS. Role: Principal Investigator