Dr Asya Natapov

BArch MSc PhD FHEA

Pronouns: She/her
  • Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning and Design
  • Deputy Programme Leader

Research and expertise

My research activities lie at the intersection of three topics: urban planning and design, spatial cognition, and computation. My work addresses the built environment as a complex system of interrelationships between physical properties and cognitive processes. I aim at redirecting the practice of urban planning from conventional modelling based on economic factors and transportation demands, by enriching it with an adaptive and integrative approach for enhanced walkability, sustainability and resilience. In particular, I focus on analysing and modelling of visual perception and study the ways this basic cognitive property contributes to spatial memory, navigation, wayfinding and emotional experience in cities.

I apply quantitative methods to encode urban space as networks of navigational decisions and assess it through behavioural experiments in an immersive virtual reality. With a view to cross-fertilising behavioural sciences, computation and urban design, I collaborate with experts from diverse fields, such as cognitive psychology, neuroscience, physics, geomatics engineering and computer science.

I welcome postgraduate enquirers who wish to pursue a PhD in my areas of research interests.

Current research projects

  • Spatial cognition, visual perception and spatial memory
  • Route choice, route planning and navigation systems
  • Urban morphology and visibility
  • The Impact Hub, Healthy and Innovative Loughborough (Town Deal Grant DLUHC with Charnwood Borough Council)
  • Branching Out: New Routes to Valuing Urban Treescapes (NERC/AHRC/ESRC, Loughborough University with Stockholm Environment Institute, York University, Open University and Forest Research UK)

Recently completed research projects

  • Digital information, modelling and manufacturing for post-war reconstruction of the built environment (UK Research and Innovation, Loughborough University with Beketov National University of Urban Economy, Ukraine)
  • AgeCogCity: How does visual perception shape our cities? Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (Horizon 2020 European Commission. The EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation)
  • Gender and ethnicity in the Whitechapel Market (Israel Science Foundation Post Doctorial Project in Social Sciences)
  • Spatial features of evacuation wayfinding (The Joan and Reginald Coleman-Cohen Postdoctoral Project. British Technion IIT Society)
  • Linking building-circulation typology and wayfinding. German Research Foundation (DFG) Spatial Cognition Interdisciplinary Transregional Collaborative Research Centre, Institute of Computer Science and Social Research, Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg

Recent publications

  • Cohen A, Dalyot S, Natapov A, Nelson T (2024) How accessible are cities for visually impaired pedestrians? A case of Greater London. Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 0(0). EPB: Urban Analytics and City Science 0(0). DOI: 10.1177/23998083241256402
  • Natapov A, Cohen A, Dalyot S (2024) Urban planning and design with points of interest and visual perception. Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 51(3). DOI:10.1177/23998083231191338
  • Adamu Z, Hardy O, Natapov A (2023) The Impact of Greenspace, Walking, and Cycling on the Health of Urban Residents during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Study of London. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20, 6360. DOI:10.3390/ijerph20146360
  • Natapov A, Parush A, Laufer L, Fisher-Gewirtzman D (2022) Architectural features and indoor evacuation wayfinding: The starting point matters. Safety Science, 145, 105483. DOI:10.1016/j.ssci.2021.105483

Teaching

I contribute to the learning and teaching activities across the Urban Planning programme and the Architecture programme:

Undergraduate

  • CVA132 Principles of Urban Planning
  • CVA130 Design Skills and Urban Data Analytics
  • CVC114 Planning Theories in Context
  • CVZ002 Professional Practice
  • CVB122 Design and Place Making
  • CVC093 The Business of Architecture
  • CVC091 Design Interventions

Postgraduate

  • CVD025 Applied Urban Planning and Design Project

Enterprise

Current projects

  • Re:PLACE (REgeneration: PLanning Active Centres), Knowledge transfer partnerships (KTP, Innovate UK) Loughborough University with The Oval Partnership Architecture Limited

Recently completed projects

  • Smart Environments Research Initiative (SERI), ETH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
  • Study of Real Estate Economics and Real Estate Appraisals, Ruppin Academic Cente

Key industry collaborators

  • Charnwood Borough Council
  • Leicester City Council
  • Oval Partnership Architecture
  • Wedderburn Transport Planning
  • Alan Turing Institute

Profile

I joined Loughborough University as a Lecturer in Urban Planning and Design in July 2020, having completed a postdoctoral fellowship as a Marie Curie Researcher at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) at the UCL Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment.

I am an architect by training and a graduate of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Before my doctoral studies, I worked for several architectural firms in the USA specialising in developing concepts for large-scale urban projects. While working on my doctorate, I was invited to be a guest researcher to the Spatial Cognition Research Centre of Computer Science and Social Research Institute at Freiburg University. As a research assistant, I have also participated in several projects of the European Union on Architectural Cultural Heritage.

Professional affiliations

  • Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI)
  • Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN)
  • Association for the promotion of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS)
  • Commission on Cognitive Issues in Geographic Information Visualization (CogVis), International Cartographic Association (ICA)

Awards

  • The British Academy Endorsement. Promising Talent in Social Sciences, Anthropology and Geography
  • Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Seal of Excellence Certificate. Horizon 2020 European Commission. The EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation
  • The Raphael Reiffer Prize for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis. Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning IIT

External activities

  • Member of Editorial Advisory Board Cambridge Scholars Publishing
  • Reviewer in Professional Journals: Landscape and Urban Planning; Architectural Science Review (ASR); Computers, Environment and Urban Systems (CEUS); Journal of Urban Affairs; Journal of Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science; International Journal of Geographical Information Science; ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information; Journal of Scientific Research and Essays (SRE); Journal of Architectural Engineering Technology

Key collaborators

My research and enterprise activities are conducted with a range of academic and stakeholder partners, including:

  • University College London (UCL)
  • ETH Zurich, Chair of Cognitive Science
  • Future Cities Laboratory, Singapore ETH Centre
  • Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (IIT)
  • University of Life Sciences in Lublin
  • Beketov National University of Urban Economy, Ukraine
  • Centre for Spatial Perception and Concrete Experience (SPaCE) University of Southern California
  • Spatial Pattern Analysis and Research (SPAR) Lab UC Santa Barbara