Dr Paul Watt

Positions held:

Professor of Urban Studies, Department of Geography

Overview

Overview

Biography

Paul joined Birkbeck in 2007. Prior to joining Birkbeck, he was a Reader at the Policy Research Institute, University of Wolverhampton. Previously Paul has taught at the University of East London and Buckinghamshire New University. He is on the editorial boards of ‘City’ and ‘Community, Work and Family’.
Research
Research

Research interests
- Social housing and urban regeneration. Neighbourhoods and communities.
- The 2012 London Olympics and the regeneration of East London.
- Suburbanisation and the suburbs (British Academy, Small Research Grant, 2012, SG112360: Residential Mobility, Housing and Belonging in the London Suburbs).
Research overview

I am an urbanist whose research interests span geography, sociology and social policy. My over-arching research focus is the inter-relationship between social inequalities, space and place, especially in global cities and their hinterlands.
Supervision and teaching
Supervision and teaching

Supervision

Supervisions within Birkbeck:

3

Current doctoral researchers
- SARA RODRIGUEZ
  
  Nature of supervision:
  Principal Supervisor, Sep 2019 onwards
Doctoral alumni
- DAVID TROSS
  
  Nature of supervision:
  Principal Supervisor
  
  Title of thesis:
  How People Across the UK Experience and Perceive Happiness in their Lives and their Society
  
  Awarded:
  2021
- PIERO CORCILLO
  
  Nature of supervision:
  Principal Supervisor, Sep 2014
  
  Title of thesis:
  Social Mixing and the London East Village: Exclusion, Habitus and Belonging in a Post-Olympics Neighbourhood
  
  Awarded:
  2021
Teaching

Teaching modules
- European Society, Economy and Geography (GGPH060S5)
- Introduction to Human Geography (GGPH070S4)
- Critical Social Geographies (SSGE062S7)
- Cities and Urban Inequalities Level 7 (SSGE080S7)
- Understanding the City (SSGE105S7)
Publications
Publications
Article
- Gillespie, T. and Hardy, K. and Watt, Paul (2021) Surplus to the city: austerity urbanism, displacement and ‘letting die’. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space ISSN 0308-518X. (In Press)
- Watt, Paul (2021) Displacement and estate demolition: multi-scalar place attachment among relocated social housing residents in London. Housing Studies ISSN 0267-3037. (In Press)
- Watt, Paul (2020) ‘Press-ganged’ Generation Rent: youth homelessness, precarity and poverty in East London. People, Place and Policy 14 (2), pp. 128-141. ISSN 1753-8041.
- Watt, Paul (2020) Territorial stigmatisation and poor housing at a London ‘Sink Estate’. Social Inclusion 8 (1), pp. 20-33. ISSN 2183-2803.
- Gillespie, T. and Hardy, K. and Watt, Paul (2018) Austerity urbanism and Olympic counter-legacies: gendering, defending and expanding the urban commons in East London. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 36 (5), pp. 812-830. ISSN 1472-3433.
- Watt, Paul (2018) Gendering the right to housing in the city: homeless female lone parents in post-Olympics, austerity East London. Cities 76, pp. 43-51. ISSN 0264-2751.
- Watt, Paul (2018) ‘This Pain of Moving, Moving, Moving’: evictions, displacement and logics of expulsion in London. L’Année Sociologique 68 (1), pp. 67-100. ISSN 0066-2399.
- Watt, Paul (2016) A nomadic war machine in the metropolis: en/countering London’s 21st century housing crisis with Focus E15. City 20 (2), pp. 297-320. ISSN 1360-4813.
- Watt, Paul and Minton, A. (2016) London’s housing crisis and its activisms. City 20 (2), pp. 204-221. ISSN 1360-4813.
- Hodkinson, S. and Watt, Paul and Mooney, G. (2013) Introduction: neoliberal housing policy - time for a critical re-appraisal. Critical Social Policy 33 (1), pp. 3-16. ISSN 0261-0183.
- Watt, Paul (2013) "It's not for us": regeneration, the 2012 Olympics and the gentrification of East London. City 17 (1), pp. 99-118. ISSN 1360-4813.
- Watt, Paul (2012) Work-life mobility and stability: the employment histories of immigrant workers at a unionized Toronto hotel. Hospitality & Society 1 (2), pp. 117-136. ISSN 2042-7913.
- Watt, Paul (2010) Focus article: unravelling the narratives and politics of belonging to place. Housing, Theory and Society 27 (2), pp. 153-159. ISSN 1403-6096.
- Watt, Paul (2009) Living in an oasis: middle-class disaffiliation and selective belonging in an English suburb. Environment and Planning A 41 (12), pp. 2874-2892. ISSN 0308-518X.
- Gunter, A. and Watt, Paul (2009) Grafting, going to college and working on road: youth transitions and cultures in an east London neighbourhood. Journal of Youth Studies 12 (5), pp. 515-529. ISSN 1367-6261.
- Watt, Paul (2009) Housing stock transfers, regeneration and state-led gentrification in London. Urban Policy and Research 27 (3), pp. 229-242. ISSN 0811-1146.
- Watt, Paul (2009) Comments on ‘New Contexts, New Challenges: Revisiting Equal Opportunities, Particularism, and Ethnic Relations’ by Malcolm Harrison. People, Place and Policy Online 3 (3), pp. 147-150. ISSN 1753-8041.
- Watt, Paul (2009) Space, the city and social theory. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 33 (3), pp. 880-881. ISSN 0309-1317.
- Watt, Paul and Gifford, C. and Koster, S. and Clark, W. (2009) 'I felt really inspired by it, it was really interesting to interact with the pupils’: active citizenship in the British undergraduate social science curriculum. Greek Social Science Tribune. Special English Edition: From a National Identity to a European One 14 (55), pp. 153-173. ISSN 1105-1167.
- Watt, Paul and Simpson, L. and Beider, H. and Ozuekren, A.S. (2009) "Are you local?" A reply to Malcolm Harrison on the dilemmas of localist particularism. People, Place and Policy Online 3 (3), pp. 147-156. ISSN 1753-8041.
- Watt, Paul (2008) 'Underclass' and 'ordinary people' discourses: representing/re-presenting council tenants in a housing campaign. Critical Discourse Studies 5 (4), pp. 345-357. ISSN 1740-5904.
- Watt, Paul (2008) The only class in town? gentrification and the middle-class colonization of the city and the urban imagination. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 32 (1), pp. 206-211. ISSN 0309-1317.
- Watt, Paul (2007) 'I need people that are happy, always smiling': guest interaction and emotional labour in a Canadian downtown hotel. Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society 10, pp. 45-59.
- Gifford, C. and Watt, Paul and Clarke, Wayne and Koster, S. (2006) Negotiating participation and power in a school setting: the implementation of active citizenship within the undergraduate sociology curriculum. LATISS - Learning and Teaching in the Social Sciences 2 (3), pp. 175-190. ISSN 1740-5866.
- Watt, Paul (2006) Respectability, roughness and 'race': neighbourhood place images and the making of working-class social distinctions in London. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 30 (4), pp. 776-797. ISSN 1468-2427.
- Watt, Paul (2005) Housing histories and fragmented middle-class careers: the case of marginal professionals in London council housing. Housing Studies 20 (3), pp. 359-381. ISSN 0267-3037.
- Watt, Paul (2003) Urban marginality and labour market restructuring: local authority tenants and employment in an inner London borough. Urban Studies 40 (9), pp. 1769-1789. ISSN 0042-0980.
- Cox, Rosie and Watt, Paul (2002) Globalization, polarization and the informal sector: the case of paid domestic workers in London. Area 34 (1), pp. 39-47. ISSN 0004-0894.
- Watt, Paul and Jacobs, K. (2000) Discourses of social exclusion: an analysis of bringing Britain together: a national strategy for neighbourhood renewal. Housing, Theory and Society 17 (1), pp. 14-26. ISSN 1403-6096.
Book
- Watt, Paul (2021) Estate regeneration and its discontents: public housing, place and inequality in London. Bristol, UK: Policy Press. ISBN 9781447329190.
- Cohen, Phil and Watt, Paul, eds. (2017) London 2012 and the post-Olympics city: a hollow legacy?. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137489463.
- Watt, Paul and Smets, P., eds. (2017) Social housing and urban renewal: a cross-national perspective. Bingley: Emerald Publishing. ISBN 9781787141254.
- Watt, Paul and Smets, P., eds. (2014) Mobilities and neighbourhood belonging in cities and suburbs. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137003621.
- Butler, T. and Watt, Paul (2007) Understanding social inequality. Sage. ISBN 9780761963707.
Book Section
- Cohen, Phil and Watt, Paul (2017) Conclusion: new directions in Olympic legacy research. In: Cohen, Phil and Watt, Paul (eds.) London 2012 and the Post-Olympics City: A Hollow Legacy?. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 445-453. ISBN 9781137489463.
- Cohen, Phil and Watt, Paul (2017) Introduction: A hollow crown - Understanding the Olympics in prospect and retrospect. In: Cohen, Phil and Watt, Paul (eds.) London 2012 and the Post-Olympics City: A Hollow Legacy?. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 1-24. ISBN 9781137489463.
- Watt, Paul and Bernstock, P. (2017) Legacy for whom? Housing in post-Olympic East London. In: Cohen, Phil and Watt, Paul (eds.) London 2012 and the Post-Olympics City: A Hollow Legacy?. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 91-138. ISBN 9781137489463.
- Cohen, Phil and Watt, Paul (2017) The Rio dossier: the exclusion games. In: Cohen, Phil and Watt, Paul (eds.) London 2012 and the Post-Olympics City: A Hollow Legacy?. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 385-405. ISBN 9781137489463.
- Smets, P. and Watt, Paul (2017) Social housing and urban renewal: conclusion. In: Watt, Paul and Smets, P. (eds.) Social Housing and Urban Renewal: A Cross-National Perspective. Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing. pp. 459-478. ISBN 9781787141254.
- Watt, Paul (2017) Social housing and urban renewal: an introduction. In: Watt, Paul and Smets, P. (eds.) Social Housing and Urban Renewal: A Cross-National Perspective. Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing. pp. 1-36. ISBN 9781787141254.
- Watt, Paul (2014) East London mobilities: the ‘Cockney Diaspora’ and the remaking of the Essex ethnoscape. In: Watt, Paul and Smets, P. (eds.) Mobilities and Neighbourhood Belonging in Cities and Suburbs. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 121-144. ISBN 9781137003621.
- Watt, Paul and Smets, P. (2014) Conclusion: mobilities and neighbourhood belonging in cities and suburbs. In: Watt, Paul and Smets, P. (eds.) Mobilities and Neighbourhood Belonging in Cities and Suburbs. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 222-228. ISBN 9781137003621.
- Watt, Paul and Smets, P. (2014) Introduction: mobilities and neighbourhood belonging in cities and suburbs. In: Watt, Paul and Smets, P. (eds.) Mobilities and Neighbourhood Belonging in Cities and Suburbs. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 1-22. ISBN 9781137003621.
- Gunter, A. and Watt, Paul (2010) Grafting, going to college and working on road: youth transitions and cultures in an East London neighbourhood. In: MacDonald, R. and Shildrick, T. and Blackman, S. (eds.) Young People, Class and Place. London, UK: Routledge. pp. 515-529. ISBN 9780415567565.
- Watt, Paul (2008) Social housing and regeneration in London. In: Imrie, R. and Lees, L and Raco, M. (eds.) Regenerating London: Governance, Sustainability and Community in a Global City. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. pp. 212-236. ISBN 9780415433679.
- Watt, Paul (2008) Moving to a better place? Geographies of aspiration and anxiety in the Thames gateway. In: Cohen, P. and Rustin, M.J. (eds.) London’s Turning: The Making of Thames Gateway. Design and the Built Environment. Farnham, UK: Ashgate. pp. 149-168. ISBN 9780754670636.
- Watt, Paul and Gifford, C. and Koster, S. (2008) Working with schools: active citizenship for undergraduate social science students. In: University Life Uncovered: Making Sense of the Student Experience. Southampton, UK: Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Social Policy and Social Work (SWAP). ISBN 9780854328901.
- Watt, Paul (2007) From the dirty city to the spoiled suburb. In: Campkin, B. and Cox, Rosie (eds.) Dirt: New Geographies of Cleanliness and Contamination. London, UK: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 9781780764177.
Conference Item
- Watt, Paul (2010) Elective belonging and selective belonging in a London suburb. ISA World Congress of Sociology, 2010, Gothenburg
- Watt, Paul (2010) Hands off our homes - again: anti-stock transfer campaigns in the ‘silent’ South East of England. Housing Privatisation Conference, 2010, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
- Watt, Paul (2010) Living in an oasis: middle-class disaffiliation and selective belonging in an English suburb. Current Events Lectures in Sociology, 2010, Department of Sociology, VU university, Amsterdam
- Watt, Paul (2010) Place belonging in urban and suburban neighbourhoods. Georg Simmel Think & Drink Colloquium, 2010, Department of Sociology, Humboldt University, Berlin
- Watt, Paul (2010) Towards a model of neighbourhood belonging in urban and suburban settings. Seminar Series, 2010, Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, Sheffield Hallam University
- Watt, Paul and Hodkinson, S. (2010) Beyond the fragments? anti-privatisation/anti-gentrification struggles in English urban areas. Housing Privatisation Conference, 2010, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
- Millington, G. and Watt, Paul and Huq, R. (2009) From the backbone to the edge of the nation: 'race', class and the Cockney diaspora in suburban Essex. The Diverse Suburb Conference, 2009, Hofstra University, New York
- Watt, Paul (2009) Anti-stock transfer campaigns in London and South East England: defending council housing and resisting gentrification. Royal Geographical Society Annual Conference, Royal Geographical Society Annual Conference, 2009, Manchester
- Watt, Paul (2009) Deconstructing the public housing ‘underclass’ discourse: a critical discourse analysis of an anti-stock transfer campaign. International Sociological Association ISA Housing Conference, 2009, Glasgow
- Watt, Paul (2009) From the centre to the margins of the nation: mobilities, whiteness and the Cockney diaspora in Essex. Diaspora Cities: Urban Mobility and Dwelling Conference, 2009, Queen Mary, University of London
- Watt, Paul (2009) Hands off our homes: a successful anti-stock transfer campaign in Buckinghamshire. Tenants Movement: A Hidden History Conference, 2009, Leeds
- Watt, Paul and Koster, S. (2009) Still wanting to change society? political activism and attitudes of social science students at a new university. Young People and Education Seminar, BSA Youth Study Group, 2009, University of Northumbria

Dr Paul Watt

Overview

Biography

Research

Research interests

Research overview

Supervision and teaching

Supervision

Current doctoral researchers

SARA RODRIGUEZ

Doctoral alumni

DAVID TROSS

PIERO CORCILLO

Teaching

Teaching modules

Publications

Article

Book

Book Section

Conference Item