Andrew Smith is a Reader in the Department of Transport and Planning at the University of Westminster. His background is in urban geography and one of his main research interests is the significance of organised events in post-industrial and entrepreneurial cities. He has written extensively about the role of major events in urban regeneration and the ways that events can be leveraged to achieve various public policy objectives.

More recently his work has focused on events staged in public spaces, particularly parks, and the ways that festivals and events affect the accessibility and image of urban spaces. Alongside his events research, he has also published work on place marketing and city tourism.

His research has mainly been focused on UK cities (London, Sheffield, Manchester Birmingham), but he has also published work on Valletta, Oslo and Barcelona. His work has been published in the most prestigious journals in the fields of urban studies and urban planning (e.g. Urban Studies, European Urban and Regional Studies, European Planning Studies), and in highly rated journals in the fields of architecture (Architectural Research Quarterly), cultural studies (Cultural Trends) and tourism (Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Management).

Over the past six years he has published two highly regarded monographs – Events and Urban Regeneration (Routledge, 2012) and Events in the City: Using Public Spaces as Event Venues (Routledge, 2016). He has been invited to give high profile presentations at international conferences including many oriented to policy communities.

For example, last year he was one of the key speakers at the Future of Public Parks conference which brought together the key stakeholders involved in the management of UK parks. His work has gained international recognition as evidenced by the award of a Visiting Fellowship by the University of Queensland in 2018.