Dr Paul Brindley

BSc, PhD

School of Architecture and Landscape

Senior Lecturer in Landscape Planning

Dr Paul Brindley
Profile picture of Dr Paul Brindley
p.brindley@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 0615
Arts Tower

Full contact details

Dr Paul Brindley
School of Architecture and Landscape
Arts Tower
Western Bank
Sheffield
S10 2TN
Profile

My research focuses on understanding the interplay between landscapes and people through the use of digital data and GIS mapping (Geographic Information Science).

My objective is to take a critical perspective in order to understand different interpretations of any set of spatial data. This involves developing innovative methodologies from data science (combining statistics and computer programming) and applying them within a landscape context.

As such I am interested in how landscapes are both presented and interpreted from digital representations. However, a critical perspective is required because we should always remember that models are merely simplifications of reality.

In the words of statistician George Box, “All models are wrong but some are useful.â€

Research interests

My research interests centre of the use of digital representations of landscape, at the planning scale. This frequently involves the use of Geographic Information Science (GIS) and statistics to address the many challenges facing our landscapes. I have a particular interest in exploring inequalities in greenspace access, mapping land cover and in geographic definitions of the Rural-Urban divide.

The use of mobile technology forms an important strand of my research. I am interested in mapping using GPS but also in automated extraction from social media and other online data (such as Flickr and Twitter) in order to inform about the use and values of urban greenspace.

I am currently involved in the project, led by Dr Anna Jorgensen within the Department and funded by NERC through the . I am working on Work Package 1 which seeks to investigate the statistical relationships between health inequality, deprivation and greenspace in Sheffield using a range of secondary data (see funded research below).

I am a co-author on the which is the official statistic used to distinguish rural and urban areas in England and Wales. The work identified and characterised physical settlements in order to generate a typology of settlement form (such as ‘village,’ ‘town’ or ‘urban fringe’).

I am interested in vague and fuzzy geographic objects. Despite the widespread acknowledgment that people will frequently have varying opinions relating to spatial boundaries and categorization, most digital representations treat such continuous spatial objects as discrete objects. My doctoral studies were concerned with formulating vague definitions of place through the extraction of differing opinions held on the internet. As such, it generated vague and probabilistic data for both neighbourhood boundaries and settlement classifications. I am interested in applying these concepts within landscape planning (for example using vague boundaries within Landscape Character Assessment).

Funded Research Projects

I have worked on over 50 research projects. A complete list can be found . A selection of my research projects are detailed below:

2016-2019: Improving Wellbeing through Urban Nature (IWUN) (Client: NERC)

I am working on Work Package 1 (WP1) with Anna Jorgensen, Ravi Maheswaran, Meghann Stanton, and Ross Cameron. WP1 is a place-based analysis of population-level linkages between natural environments, health inequality, deprivation and green space usage. It takes an epidemiological approach to investigating and evidence the relationship between urban Natural Environments and Health and Wellbeing in Sheffield. It focuses especially on the links between the characteristics of urban Natural Environments and Health and Wellbeing outcomes, and the way that this plays out within differing socio-economic population groups. See for further details

2014: Rural-Urban Classification for Local Authority Districts in England (Client: Defra, ONS, CLG and Welsh Government)

Co-Investigator with Bibby, P. The work updated the 2001 official definitions for rural areas to tie in with the 2011 Census. See for details.

2013: Rural-Urban Classification (Client: Defra, ONS, CLG and Welsh Government)

Co-Investigator with Bibby, P. The work updated the 2001 official definitions for rural areas to tie in with the 2011 Census. See for details.

Publications

Show: Featured publications All publications

Journal articles

  • Brindley P, Ma Y, Wang R, Martin M & Woolley H (2025) . Land, 14(3).
  • Ma Y, Brindley P & Lange E (2024) . Landscape and Urban Planning, 249.
  • Robinson JM, Mavoa S, Robinson K & Brindley P (2022) . PLoS ONE, 17(11).
  • Ma Y, Brindley P & Lange E (2022) . Land, 11(8).
  • Mears M, Brindley P, Barrows P, Richardson M & Maheswaran R (2021) . PLoS ONE, 16(7).
  • Robinson JM, Brindley P, Cameron R, MacCarthy D & Jorgensen A (2021) . International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(5).
  • Mears M, Brindley P, Jorgensen A & Maheswaran R (2020) . Health & Place, 62.
  • Mears M, Brindley P, Jorgensen A, Ersoy E & Maheswaran R (2019) . Ecological Indicators, 106.
  • Mears M, Brindley P, Maheswaran R & Jorgensen A (2019) . Geoforum, 103, 126-137.
  • Brindley PG, Cameron R, Ersoy E, Jorgensen A & Maheswaran R (2019) . Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 39, 45-54.
  • Brindley PG, Jorgensen A & Maheswaran R (2018) . International Journal of Health Geographics, 17.
  • Dallimer M, Tang Z, Bibby PR, Brindley P, Gaston KJ & Davies ZG (2011) . Biology Letters, 7(5), 763-766.
  • Mears M & Brindley P () . ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 8(6).
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Book chapters

  • Ma Y, Brindley P & Lange E (2023) , The Urban Book Series (pp. 249-266). Springer International Publishing
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All publications

Journal articles

  • Arora V, Brindley P & Waterton E (2025) . Landscape Research, 50(5), 747-753.
  • Tong T, Maheswaran R, Michaels J, Brindley P, Walters S & Nawaz S (2025) . BJS Open, 9(3).
  • Brindley P, Ma Y, Wang R, Martin M & Woolley H (2025) . Land, 14(3).
  • Ma Y, Brindley P, Wang R & Lange E (2025) . Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 191.
  • Maheswaran R, Tong T, Michaels J, Brindley P, Walters S & Nawaz S (2024) . BJS Open, 8(5).
  • Ma Y, Brindley P & Lange E (2024) . Landscape and Urban Planning, 249.
  • Nawaz S, Tong T, Brindley P, Walters S, Michaels J & Maheswaran R (2024) . EJVES Vascular Forum, 61(Supp 1), S7-S8.
  • Maheswaran R, Tong T, Michaels J, Brindley P, Walters S & Nawaz S (2024) . BJS Open, 8(1).
  • Tong T, Maheswaran R, Michaels J, Brindley P, Walters S & Nawaz S (2023) . BJS Open, 7(4).
  • Boyd F & Brindley P (2023) Lessons from beyond the lecture theatres: What is still unknown when it comes to nature-based intervention for university students’ wellbeing?. Digital Culture & Education, 14(4), 109-128.
  • Robinson JM, Mavoa S, Robinson K & Brindley P (2022) . PLoS ONE, 17(11).
  • Maheswaran R, Tong T, Michaels J, Brindley P, Walters S & Nawaz S (2022) . British Journal of Surgery, 109(10), 958-967.
  • Ma Y, Brindley P & Lange E (2022) . Land, 11(8).
  • Michaels JA, Nawaz S, Tong T, Brindley P, Walters SJ & Maheswaran R (2022) . BJS Open, 6(4).
  • Mears M, Brindley P, Barrows P, Richardson M & Maheswaran R (2021) . PLoS ONE, 16(7).
  • Barros P, Mehta V, Brindley P & Zandieh R (2021) . Landscape Research, 46(7), 1017-1037.
  • Robinson JM, Brindley P, Cameron R, MacCarthy D & Jorgensen A (2021) . International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(5).
  • McEwan K, Richardson M, Sheffield D, Ferguson FJ & Brindley P (2021) . PsyEcology, 12(1), 45-75.
  • Dobson J, Birch J, Brindley P, Henneberry J, McEwan K, Mears M, Richardson M & Jorgensen A (2021) . Cities, 108.
  • Mears M, Brindley P, Baxter I, Maheswaran R & Jorgensen A (2020) . Pediatric Obesity, 15(7).
  • McEwan K, Richardson M, Brindley P, Sheffield D, Tait C, Johnson S, Sutch H & Ferguson FJ (2020) . Translational Behavioral Medicine, 10(3), 723-733.
  • Robinson JM, Jorgensen A, Cameron R & Brindley P (2020) . International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(10).
  • Cameron RWF, Brindley P, Mears M, McEwan K, Ferguson F, Sheffield D, Jorgensen A, Riley J, Goodrick J, Ballard L & Richardson M (2020) . Urban Ecosystems, 23(2), 301-317.
  • Mears M, Brindley P, Jorgensen A & Maheswaran R (2020) . Health & Place, 62.
  • Mears M, Brindley P, Jorgensen A, Ersoy E & Maheswaran R (2019) . Ecological Indicators, 106.
  • McEwan K, Richardson M, Sheffield D, Ferguson FJ & Brindley P (2019) . International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(18), 3373-3373.
  • Mears M, Brindley P, Maheswaran R & Jorgensen A (2019) . Geoforum, 103, 126-137.
  • Brindley PG, Cameron R, Ersoy E, Jorgensen A & Maheswaran R (2019) . Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 39, 45-54.
  • Erhan L, Ndubuaku M, Ferrara E, Richardson M, Sheffield D, Ferguson FJ, Brindley P & Liotta A (2019) . IEEE Access, 7, 19890-19906.
  • Twaroch FA, Brindley PG, Clough P, Jones CB, Pasley RC & Mansbridge S (2018) . Spatial Cognition & Computation, 19(2), 146-171.
  • Maheswaran R, Green MA, Strong M, Brindley P, Angus C & Holmes J (2018) . Addiction, 113(11), 2051-2059.
  • Brindley PG, Jorgensen A & Maheswaran R (2018) . International Journal of Health Geographics, 17.
  • Brindley P, Goulding J & Wilson ML (2018) . International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 32(3), 498-523.
  • Scott S & Brindley P (2012) New geographies of migrant settlement in the UK. Geography, 97(1), 29-38.
  • Dallimer M, Tang Z, Bibby PR, Brindley P, Gaston KJ & Davies ZG (2011) . Biology Letters, 7(5), 763-766.
  • Haining R, Law J, Maheswaran R, Pearson T & Brindley P (2007) . Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, 21(5), 501-509.
  • Maheswaran R, Haining RP, Pearson T, Law J, Brindley P & Best NG (2006) . Statistical Methods in Medical Research, 15(5), 499-516.
  • Maheswaran R, Haining RP, Brindley P, Law J, Pearson T, Fryers PR, Wise S & Campbell MJ (2005) . European Heart Journal, 26(23), 2543-2549.
  • Brindley P, Wise SM, Maheswaran R & Haining RP (2005) . Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 29(4), 455-469.
  • Maheswaran R, Haining RP, Brindley P, Law J, Pearson T, Fryers PR, Wise S & Campbell MJ (2005) . Stroke, 36(2), 239-243.
  • Brindley P & Maheswaran R (2002) . Journal of Public Health, 24(2), 149-149.
  • Robinson JM, Mavoa S, Robinson K & Brindley P () . PLOS ONE, 17(11), e0276962-e0276962.
  • Mears M & Brindley P () . ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 8(6).
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Book chapters

  • Ma Y, Brindley P & Lange E (2023) , The Urban Book Series (pp. 249-266). Springer International Publishing
  • Stock K, Pasley RC, Gardner Z, Brindley P, Morley J & Cialone C (2013) , Lecture Notes in Computer Science (pp. 279-298). Springer International Publishing
  • Brindley P, Craglia M, Haining RP & Kim YH (2007) Crime map analyst: A GIS to support local-area crime reduction, GIS and Evidence Based Policy Making (pp. 113-132).
  • Brindley P, Kim Y-H, Haining R & Craglia M (2007) , Innovations in GIS CRC Press
  • Brindley P, Wise S, Haining R, Maheswaran R & Pearson T (2004) , GIS in Public Health Practice CRC Press
  • Brindley PG, Maheswaran R, Pearson T, Wise S & Haining RP (2004) Using Modelled Outdoor Air Pollution Data for Health In Maheswaran R & Craglia M (Ed.), GIS in Public Health Practice (pp. 125-150). CRC Press
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Conference proceedings

  • Ma Y, Brindley P & Lange E (2022) . Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture, Vol. 2022(7) (pp 269-279). Cambridge Mass, USA, 9 June 2022 - 10 June 2022.
  • Brindley P, Goulding J & Wilson ML (2014) . Proceedings of the 22nd ACM SIGSPATIAL International Conference on Advances in Geographic Information Systems (pp 437-440)
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Reports

  • Bibby PR & Brindley P (2014) 2011 Rural-Urban Classification of Local Authority Districts in England: Methodology
  • Brindley PG & Bibby PR (2014) 2011 Rural-Urban Classification of Local Authority Districts in England: Methodology
  • Bibby PR & Brindley P (2013) Urban and Rural Area Definitions for Policy Purposes in England and Wales: Methodology
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Preprints

  • Robinson JM, Brindley P, Cameron R, MacCarthy D & Jorgensen A () .
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Teaching activities

LSC119 The Changing Landscape
LSC336 Landscape Planning Toolkits
LSC5020 Rural Landscape Planning

GIS workshops

LSC5010 Urban Landscape Planning
LSC6005 Special Project
LSC6310
LSC6113 Landscape Planning

Professional activities and memberships

Joint Director of Learning and Teaching

Links

Creative Spatial Practices