Key details
Dr Laura Bowie
Senior Lecturer in Architectural Histories and Theories
Laura is Senior Lecturer in Architecture Histories and Theories at Greenwich. Prior to joining Greenwich, Laura was Lecturer in Architectural History and Theory at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University as part of the Disglair [brilliant] lecturers scheme. Prior to that, Laura taught architectural history and theory at Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture [ESALA] at the University of Edinburgh.
Laura holds a PhD from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, which explored the relationship between urban planning and protest cultures in post-war West Berlin. She also holds an MA, First Class with Joint Honours in Architectural History and Archaeology from the University of Edinburgh and an MA, with Distinction, in European History from Newcastle University.
Responsibilities within the university
Scholarship
- Design School Representative to Faculty Research Ethics Committee
Teaching
- ARCT1050: Cultural Contexts of Architecture – Module co-ordinator and seminar tutor (level 4)
- HART1004: History of Architecture & Landscape 1 – Module co-ordinator and seminar tutor (level 4)
- HART1011: History of Architecture & Landscape 2 – Module co-ordinator and seminar tutor (level 5)
- ARCT1014: Architecture Dissertation – Module co-ordinator and dissertation supervisor (level 6)
Awards
- DAAD Language Grant (2014)
- Barrie Wilson Award for Excellence in First Year PhD Studies (2015)
Recognition
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
- Architecture and Humanities Association
- German History Society
- European Architectural History Network
- Society of Architectural Historians (GB & USA)
- UKRI ECR Forum
- Women in German Studies (WIGS)
Research / Scholarly interests
Laura’s research interests include: the city and protest, post-war reconstruction, the radicalisation of urban space, the relationship between urban planning and the psyche, the role of the media in architectural perception, and the use of memory and cultural outputs as exploratory tools.
Her research thus far has focused on the post-war period in West Berlin and the 1968 student protests; how the historical urban fabric was rejected, reenvisaged and reappropriated in the face of internationally promoted modernist housing policies.
Current and future projects are investigating the relationship between visual images and urban space, urban protest tactics across Europe, humour and urban protest, and exploring women’s interventions in the built environment during the ‘68 moment.
Recent publications
Books
- Bowie, L. (2022) In Kenny, N. & Madgin, R.(series eds) The City as Place Series: Emotions, Experiences, and Meanings. Oxford: Peter Lang.
Book Chapters
- [accepted] Bowie, L. (2023) ‘“A demonstration is also FUN”: Humour as a tactic to disrupt the “rational” state during the 1968 protests’ in Chao, S., Dahn, A. and V. Westbrook (eds) Humour in Times of Confrontations, 1901 to the Present. Humour in Literature and Culture Series. Abingdon: Routledge.
- [accepted] Bowie. L (2024) 'Cities as Theatres of Protest: The Urban Dimension of Terrorism in 1970s West Germany' in Pérez, R. and Cayuela, S. (eds) Remembering Terror. Estudios Europeos Series. Madrid: Marcial Pons.
Articles
- Bowie, L. (2022) Journal of Urban History 48(4) pp. 835-60.
- Bowie, L. (2017) ’, Canvas (4), pp. 16-19.
- Bowie, L. (2016), Studies in History and Theory of Architecture: Marginalia; Architectures of Uncertain Margins 4, pp. 225-240.
Reviews
- Bowie, L. (2022), (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022)’, Planning Perspectives
- Bowie, L. (2020) (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2019)’, The Sixties 13(2), pp. 160-172.
- 'Meeting of Minds at the Old College: Conference Review', The Architectural Historian, Issue 1, (June 2015), 22.
Presentations
- in Architecture and its Stories: AIARG Annual Conference (Dublin, 24-25 March 2022)
- ‘Contested Urban Space: Post-War West Berlin’, in Welsh School of Architecture, History & Theory Research Group (Cardiff, 7 December 2021)
- in ESALA Postgraduate Prokalo Seminar Series (University of Edinburgh, 29 October 2019)
- ‘Satellite Settlements and Social Critique: 1968 in West Berlin’, in RGS-IBG Annual International Conference (London, 28-30 August 2019).
- ‘Mass-Housing, Urban Space, and Conflict: 1968 in West Berlin’, in Society of Architectural Historians 70th Annual International Conference (Glasgow, 7-11 June 2017).
- ‘Urban Space, Politicised: 1968 in West Berlin’, in Urban Social Movements, Protest and Advocacy Master Class with Margit Mayer (Global Justice Academy, University of Edinburgh, 29 March 2017).
- , in Books and the City Symposium (Maastricht University and Van Eyck Academie, 22-24 June 2016).
- ‘Coloured Architecture: Democratic or Oppressive? 1968 in West Berlin’, in GTA Workshop ‘Europe and its Limits’ (ETH Zurich, 31 May-1 June 2016).
- ‘Protest as Analytical Tool: 1968 in West Berlin’, in PGR Seminar with Professor Barry Bergdoll (University of Edinburgh, 5 November 2015).
- '1968 in West Berlin: Research Development at the 1st Year Review Stage' in ESALA PG Research Skills Seminar, (University of Edinburgh, 5 October 2015).
- ‘Space, Place and Identity: 1968 in West Berlin’, in First Year Review Conference (University of Edinburgh, 10-11 September 2015).
- ‘Urban Berlin - Memories of a City’, in Stadtkolloquium 2015 Annual Workshop (UCL, London, 30-31 March 2015)
- ‘The City as Text: 1968 in West Berlin’, in institutions: History Lab Annual Conference (IHR, London, 12-13 June 2013)
- ‘The Spatial Dimensions of Protest: 1968 in West Berlin’, in Arguing the Establishment: Obedience and Resistance since 1450 (Durham University, 23 May 2013).