Michael Batty

For the English footballer, see Mike Batty (footballer).

Michael Batty

Michael Batty CBE, FBA, FRS (born 11 January 1945) is a British urban planner and geographer, and a Professor in The Bartlett at University College London (UCL). He is Chair of the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) which he set up in 1995 when he was appointed to UCL. Batty's research and the work of his centre is focused on computer models of city systems. He was awarded the William Alonso Prize of the Regional Science Association in 2011, the University Consortium GIS Research Award in 2012, and the prestigious Lauréat Prix International de Géographie Vautrin Lud, the so-called 'Nobel' for geography in 2013.

Education

Born In Liverpool, he was educated at Northway County Primary School from 1950 to 1956 and then at Quarry Bank High School for Boys from 1956 to 1962. He went to the University of Manchester (1962-1966) where he studied Town and Country Planning gaining the BA degree with First Class Honours in 1966. His PhD is from the University of Wales, Institute of Science and Technology in 1984. The thesis on Pseudo Dynamic Urban Models was made available on-line in 2012.

Current Affiliations

• He is Professor of Planning in the Bartlett School at UCL where he is Chairman of the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA). From 1995 to 2003, he was Professor of Spatial Analysis and Planning holding a joint appointment between the Department of Geography and the Bartlett School of Planning, and then became Bartlett Professor of Planning in that year, succeeding Professor Sir Peter Hall
• Visiting Distinguished Professor at Arizona State University.
• Honorary Professor at Cardiff University.
• Editor of the journal Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design

Academic Career

Mike began his academic career in the University of Manchester in 1966 where he was appointed an Assistant Lecturer in Town and Country Planning. He then spent 10 years at the University of Reading as Research Assistant, Lecturer and Reader in Geography. During this time he spent one year as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Transport Planning in the Department of Civil Engineering in the University of Waterloo Ontario. He moved to the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology (now the University of Cardiff), in 1979, where he was Professor of Town Planning. During this time, he acted as Head of Department, and Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Design. In 1990, he moved to direct the US National Science Foundation (NSF) National Centre for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) at the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY-Buffalo) where he was a Professor of Geography.

Mike held several visiting appointments in computing, engineering, planning, and geography at the following Universities: University of Illinois; University of Melbourne; University of Hong Kong; University of Bristol; University of Michigan; and he currently has visiting appointments at Cardiff University and Arizona State University .

Scholarship

Mike's research has focussed on the development of analytical methods and computer models for simulating the structure of cities and regions. His work began with aggregate land use transport models which are summarised in his first book Urban Modelling (Cambridge, London, 1976). He then moved into more visual representations of cities and their models and some of these were represented in his book Microcomputer Graphics (Chapman and Hall, London,1987). With Paul Longley, he published Fractal Cities (Academic Press, London, 1994) that established the idea that cities might be regarded as the outcome of self-similar fractal processes generating structure from the bottom up. His work on complexity theory in urban analysis and planning is covered in his book Cities and Complexity (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2005), a summary of which is available on his ComplexCity web site. His most recent book which is called The New Science of Cities (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2013) ties many of these ideas together, developing the notion that it is flows rather than locations that are key to an understanding not only of cities but also the processes for their design and planning.

He has edited several volumes, most recently Agent-Based Models of Geographical Systems (Springer, Berlin, 2012) (co-edited with A. J. Heppenstall, A. T. Crooks and L. M. See), and Virtual Geographic Environments (Science Press, Beijing, 2009 and ESRI Press, Redlands, CA, 2011) (with Hui Lin)

Memberships and Fellowships

Learned Societies: He has been a Fellow of the Royal Society since 2009, a Fellow of the British Academy since 2001, a Member of Academy of Social Sciences since 2001 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts since 1982.

Professional Institutes: He has been a Member now Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute since 1971, and the The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport since 1984.

Past Roles

He has recently acted as: Member of the Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information - APPSI, Chair of the ESRC Census Advisory Committee, and a Member of the UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2004-2009 Geography Panel.

At Cardiff, he was a Member of the Computer Board for British Universities and Research Councils, now JISC (1988–1990), a Member of the SERC (Science and Engineering Research Council) Transport Committee (1982–1985), Chair (1980–1982), then Vice-Chair (1982–1984) of the ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) Environment and Planning Committee, and Chair of the Conference of Heads Of Planning Schools (CHOPS) 1986-1980.

Honours

Year awarded	Name of Award	Awarding organisation	Reason for award
2013	Vautrin Lud Prize
2010	Alonso Prize	Regional Science Association	Cities and Complexity (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2005)
2004	CBE		Services to geography
2002	Innovation	Association of Geographic Information
1999	Sir George Back Award	Royal Geographical Society	Contributions to national policy and practice in planning and city design
1998	Technological Progress	Association of Geographic Information

External links

Michael Batty's Full Curriculum Vitae Personal Web Page and Publications Personal Blog