Wendy Steele

Wendy Steele is a Professor in Sustainability and Critical Urban Governance whose research sits at the nexus of urban studies, social sciences and environmental humanities.

Professor Steele is an award-winning researcher, writer, activist and educator. She leads research on the nature of cities in climate change with a particular emphasis on regenerative futures, governing planetary commons, critical urban governance, policy and planning, climate activism, critical urban infrastructure and sustainability as a transformative agenda within higher education. Her recent books include 'Planning Wild Cities: Human–nature relationships in the urban age' (Routledge 2020), 'Quiet Activism: Climate action at the local scale' (Palgrave 2021), and 'The Sustainable Development Goals, Higher Education: A transformative agenda?' (Palgrave-Macmillan 2021) and 'Hot Cities' (Edward Elgar City Series). In transdisciplinary partnerships such as the Planetary Civics Initiative with Dark Matter Labs (DmL) and Politics for Tomorrow (PfT) she has been working with others to help support and promote the vital role of the social sciences and humanities in addressing planetary scale challenges such as climate change, as well as critical and purposeful engagement with regenerative futures and reimaging the role and purpose of the university.