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Photo of Louis D'Arcy Reed

Dr Louis D'Arcy-Reed

Lecturer in Liberal ArtsVisiting Lecturer in Sociology

School of Humanities

Postgraduate Research Supervisor

Contact details

My research

For a full collection of my research to date, please visit my RaY profile.

View my full RaY profile

As a lecturer in liberal arts and human geography, my research spans social, political, and cultural theory. Specialising in the intersection of architectural and psychoanalytic inquiry, I fuse together elements from contemporary culture, arts culture, media, the discipline of architecture, cities, urban space and filmic representations to present interrogations on society, politics, and the role of the built environment.

I have published in journals such as Architecture Research Quarterly, Architecture and Culture, Journal of Architecture and Urbanism and Visual Studies, and have contributed chapters to Architecture and Collective Life (Routledge, 2021) and Narrating the City - Mediated Representations of Architecture, Urban Forms and Social Life (Intellect, 2023). I have also written arts criticism for Corridor8 and Aesthetica Magazine.

I currently teach across all elements of the Liberal Arts Foundation year and act as module convener for 'Truth and Invention' and 'Imagining the Future'. I also supervise and support students' independent projects. My interdisciplinary experience allows me to deliver lectures and seminars on human geography, film, gender, globalisation, urban and social fabrics, 20th and 21st century culture, and sociology.

I also teach on the Geography based Master's Environment and Social Justice programme, acting as module convener for 'Researching, Representing and Communicating Environmental-Social Relations and Ecological Justice'. I deliver sessions based on social justice, spatial embodiment and experience, creative responses to place, and situation-based spatial inquiry. I am also project supervisor for students' capstone projects which serve as a culmination of their master's course.

Currently, I act as module convener for the undergraduate Human and Environmental Geography module 'Nature/Culture' in third year, whilst also supervising dissertation projects.

I have experience teaching at York St John on Sociology, Criminology, Police Studies, and American Studies programmes, with previous institutional roles including Cinema and Study Skills to staff and students.

My research spans social, political, and cultural theory specialising in the intersection of architectural and psychoanalytic inquiry, into the domain of spatial sociology, human geography, and architecture and psychoanalysis. Using facets of contemporary culture, media, and filmic representations, I tend to present interrogations on social and political control, and the role of the built environment in the creation of cognitive and embodied urban fabrics - this can be the physical world we live in, or within the cultural artefacts we consume. I also continue to hold a strong interest in museology and contemporary art studies within my research.

My PhD thesis examined the role of cultural institutions, such as museums, in transforming the cultural identity of cities and communities through psychoanalytic analysis of place, space, and architecture. Within the thesis I used a mixed methodology to work para-architecturally, meaning the creation of artworks, prose, photography, and installations as a means to further interrogate themes and concepts within space. I try to use these methods throughout my research, seeking to reveal new perspectives.

I am open to prospective PhD supervisions based on space, place, architecture, psychologies of the spatial, human geography, and contemporary culture. In 2025, I will be co-supervising 2 PhDs - one human geography based, one arts and ecology based.

Recent publications

I am a Fellow of the HEA and have accreditation from RIBA (Part 1).