Dr Dunning works at the interface of housing delivery and planning. Drawing from behavioural economics, his research focuses on explaining human decision making in the built environment. Richard’s research frequently considers: calculations of housing need; the relationship between public outcomes and land value capture; and cycling infrastructures.
His work has been funded by multiple research councils (ESRC, EPSRC and NERC), as well as governments (national and local) and charities (e.g. RICS Research Trust, Nuffield Foundation). Richard’s research has been instrumental in defining affordable housing subsidies in Scotland and determining land value capture mechanisms in England. He is currently working on: the relationship between land value capture and air quality with colleagues in China, the Netherlands and France; small scale geodemographic classifications of older people; land value capture for resilient coasts; and suburban densification across Europe.
Richard teaches urban regeneration and housing modules. These modules explore how places are imagined, created and continuously re-created. They explore utopian visions of society and home, and how conflicts emerge across space and time. The modules are critical, but hopeful.
After working as a surveyor, Richard completed his PhD in Urban Studies and Planning at the University of Sheffield on owner-occupation search behaviour. He then worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate for the Critical Infrastructures Group at the University of Sheffield before joining the University of Liverpool. When not considering housing and planning his mind occassionally roams to road bikes and hill climbs.