Dr John Harrison

Academic Career

• 2024-present: Associate Dean (Research & Innovation), School of Social Sciences and Humanities
• 2016-onwards: Reader in Human Geography, Loughborough University.
• 2012-2016: Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, Loughborough University.
• 2006-2011: Lecturer in Human Geography, Loughborough University.

Professional Responsibilities

• 2023- : Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Regional Studies
• 2020- : Board Member and Trustee, Regional Studies Association
• 2019- : Adjunct Professor, Hunan University, China
• 2013- : Editor, Urban and Regional Horizons, Regional Studies
• 2013- : Associate Director, GaWC

Prizes and Awards

• 2015: Vice Chancellor's Loughborough Academic Award of Excellence
  2015: Jim Lewis Prize
  2011: Routledge Regional Studies Association Award for Early Career Excellence

John’s research interests lie within the broad scope of political-economic geography, with a specific focus on the planning and governance of cities and regions. This work centres around three main themes.

Regions and Regional Theory

• The political construction of regions and regional spaces
• The relationship between regions, territoriality and relationality
• Theorising processes of regionalism and regionalisation

Urban and Regional Governance

• The uneven geographies of devolution and decentralisation
• City-regions and metropolitan regions
• Planning and governing cities and regions

Global Urban Studies

• Global city-region governance
• Researching globalization’s new urban form
• The practice of doing global urban research

John's teaching examines political and economic globalization with a focus on cities and regions.

Current Postgraduate Research Students

• Lingjia Zhao: Rural planning in China: planning the new countryside
• Carla Cannone: Climate compatible growth
• Jiaying Xue: Polycentricity in China’s ‘Greater Bay’ area
• Naomi Tan: From energy modelling to funding applications: what dataset must we need to financially realize climate-compatible growth?

Recent Postgraduate Research Students

• Harrison J and Gu H (2023) Arguing with megaregions: learning from China’s chéngshì qún Transactions in Planning and Urban Research 2(1) 53-70

• Harrison J (2022) Geography and public policy: taking responsibility in research and teaching Space & Polity 26(2) 88-93.
• Harrison J, Hoyler M, Derudder B, Liu X and Meijers E (2022) Governing polycentric urban regions Territory, Politics, Governance 1-9
• Harrison J, Galland D and Tewdwr-Jones M (2022) Planning Regional Futures. Routledge: London
• Harrison J and Gu H (2021) Planning megaregional futures: spatial imaginaries and megaregion formation in China Regional Studies 55(1) 77-89.
• Harrison J, Galland D and Tewdwr-Jones M (2021) Regional planning is dead, long live planning regional futures Regional Studies 55(1) 6-18.
• Sayin O, Hoyler M and Harrison J (2020) Doing comparative urbanism differently: conjunctural cities and the stress-testing of urban theory Urban Studies
• Harrison J (2020) Seeing like a business: rethinking the role of business in regional development, planning and governance Territory, Politics, Governance
• Zimmermann K, Galland D and Harrison J (eds.) (2020) Metropolitan Regions, Planning and Governance. Springer.
• Paasi A, Harrison J and Jones M (2018) New consolidated regional geographies in Paasi A, Harrison J and Jones M (eds.) Handbook on the Geographies of Regions and Territories. Edward Elgar: Cheltenham.
• Harrison J and Hoyler M (eds.) (2018) Doing Global Urban Research. Sage: London.