Projects per year
Personal profile
Profile
Nick Dunn is Professor of Urban Design and Executive Director of Imagination, the design and architecture research lab at Lancaster University. Nick's work examines the ways we think, envision and analyse the futures of people, places, and planet. His research has been funded by numerous research councils and government bodies. Nick is the founding Director of the Dark Design Lab, exploring the impacts of nocturnal activity on humans and non-humans. He is also an Ambassador for the Design Council and a Director of DarkSky UK. Nick has authored numerous books, journal articles, and commissioned reports. His expertise on cities, design, futures, health, and darkness have led to curated exhibitions and invited talks at public festivals and conferences around the world.
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or
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Twilight Commons: Unlocking Cultural Access in Coastal Communities
Dunn, N. (Co-Investigator), Quinn, M. (Co-Investigator), Jones, N. (Principal Investigator), Southern, J. (Co-Investigator) & Levine, M. (Co-Investigator)
1/04/26 → 31/03/27
Project: Research
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The Pavements Project: Reimagining Mundane Infrastructure as Local 'Sustainability Catalysts'
Boyko, C. (Principal Investigator), Dunn, N. (Co-Investigator), Tenbrink, T. (Co-Investigator), Muldoon-Smith, K. (Co-Investigator) & Dalton, R. (Principal Investigator)
Project: Research
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E3: Sonorous Urban Landscapes: Using sound and light to capture and communicate changing biodiversity in an urban setting
Griffiths, R. (Academic Lead) & Dunn, N. (Support)
14/02/24 → 13/02/25
Project: Research
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Expanding Excellence in England (E3): Sustainability Bridging Grant
Cooper, R. (Co-Investigator) & Dunn, N. (Principal Investigator)
1/04/23 → 31/03/24
Project: Research
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Rewilding the Night: Co-designing new engagements with urban darkness
Griffiths, R. (Team Member), Stone, T. (Principal Investigator), Dunn, N. (Team Member), Powell, A. (Team Member), Dijkstra, I. (Team Member) & Roscher, R. (Team Member)
1/12/22 → 1/12/24
Project: Research
Research output
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Dark Futures: When the Lights Go Down
Dunn, N., 25/03/2025, London: Zero Books. 184 p.Research output: Book/Report/Proceedings › Book
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Dark Futures, Night Spaces: A journey of urban exploration, reflection and discovery
Dunn, N. (Artist), 30/04/2025Research output: Exhibits, objects and web-based outputs › Performance
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Darkling Dialogues: Alternative Narratives for Cities at Night
Dunn, N., 10/10/2025, (Unpublished).Research output: Contribution to conference - Without ISBN/ISSN › Conference paper
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Dark Practices: Sensing the City After Dusk
Dunn, N., 13/01/2025, Urban Nightlife and Contested Spaces: Cultural Encounters After Dusk. Brandellero, S., Krakowska Rodrigues, K. & Perdue, D. (eds.). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, p. 21-35 15 p.Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSN › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
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Dark Matters: Manifesto of the Night City
Translated title of the contribution :Темные материи: манифест ночного города Research output: Book/Report/Proceedings › Book
Activities
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ALAN Artificial Light at Night
Dunn, N. (Member of programme committee)
1/11/2025Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
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9th Artificial Light at Night Conference
Dunn, N. (Organiser)
31/10/2025Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
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9th Artificial Light at Night Conference
Dunn, N. (Keynote/plenary speaker)
30/10/2025Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
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6th International Conference on Night Studies
Downey, C. (Chair) & Dunn, N. (Chair)
10/10/2025Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
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Dark Futures: Reimagining Nighttime Cities
Dunn, N. (Invited speaker)
30/09/2025Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
Press/Media
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‘Darkening’ cities is as important for wildlife as greening them
29/07/25
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research
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Special event to reflect on life after dark in Cork city
29/04/25
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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After Greening Comes Darkness (And It Really Does Matter)
26/03/25
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Datasets
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Going Beyond Imagination
Cruickshank, L. (Creator), Dunn, N. (Creator), Cooper, R. (Creator), Coupe, G. (Creator) & Turton, L. (Creator), Lancaster University, 20/06/2022
DOI: 10.17635/lancaster/researchdata/541, https://imagination.lancaster.ac.uk
Dataset
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