Doina Petrescu

Professor Doina Petrescu is Chair of Architecture and Design Activism at the School of Architecture and Landscape, University of Sheffield, where she has been working since 2001. She is also the 2022 Jubilee Professor at Chalmers University and was a Visiting Professor of Urban Design at Harvard Graduate School of Design (2014-15). Her work bridges academic research with practice through Atelier d'Architecture Autogeree, an internationally acclaimed research-based practice she co-founded in 2001. Her research addresses critical questions in architecture and urban planning with a focus on co-design, civic participation, gendered practices, political ecology, co-production, and urban resilience.

Professor Petrescu was born and trained as an architect in Romania. She studied philosophy at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris with Jacques Derrida and completed a PhD in Women's Studies at the University of Paris VIII under the supervision of Hélène Cixous. Her academic journey reflects her interdisciplinary approach that combines architecture, philosophy, and feminist theory.

Her research focuses on three interconnected strands: Gender and Space, Participation in Architecture, and Co-production and Urban Resilience. These strands are reflected in her extensive publications including 10 books, over 45 articles and book chapters, and more than 50 other publications. Her work explores how architecture can be a vehicle for social change, particularly through participatory design processes that empower communities and create resilient urban environments. She examines how gendered practices shape spatial experiences and how urban commons can be cultivated as sites of resistance and resilience against climate change and social inequality.

Professor Petrescu's recent publications reveal a strong emphasis on commons-based approaches to urban resilience, with particular attention to community-led initiatives in both Global North and South contexts. Her work increasingly focuses on the intersection of climate change adaptation and social justice, exploring how urban communities can develop resilient practices through commoning, co-design, and participatory governance. She has been instrumental in developing the concept of "open source resilience" through projects like R-Urban, which has gained international recognition.

• New European Bauhaus (2022)
• European Prize for Political Innovation – category ecology (2017)
• Zumtobel Foundation Award for Research & Initiative (2012)
• Curry Stone Prize for Social Design Innovation (2011)
• Public Interest Design list of top 100 global leaders (2012)
• European Prize for Urban Public Space for Passage56 (2010)
• Prix Grand Public des Architectures Contemporaines en Métropole Parisienne (2010)
• R-Urban elected one of 100 projects for Climate action (2016)

Professor Petrescu has supervised numerous PhD students working on topics related to participatory architecture, urban resilience, feminist spatial practices, and community-led design. Her research has been supported by significant grants totaling €4.9 million across 14 projects with partners in 18 countries, including funding from EC Horizon 2020, EC Life+, French Ministry of Ecology, and other prestigious sources. She co-founded the Building Local Resilience Research Platform at the Sheffield School of Architecture and the Field peer review journal.

Through Atelier d'Architecture Autogeree, Professor Petrescu has developed innovative projects such as EcoBox, Passage56, and R-Urban, which have been exhibited at MOMA New York, Venice Biennale, and other prestigious venues. Her work demonstrates how architectural practice can be transformed through collaborative, community-centered approaches that address pressing social and environmental challenges.