Dr Ian Cook

Assistant Professor

School: Humanities and Social Sciences

Ian has worked in the Department of Social Sciences since 2011. He works across the disciplines/fields of geography, urban studies and criminology.

His research often focuses on cities, and his latest research project consider people's experiences of, and the governance of, pedestrian underpasses in Newcastle. Away from cities, he is also working on a research project looks at the experience of academics who move between academic disciplines.

Before arriving in the North East, Ian worked at the University of Liverpool, University of Portsmouth and University of Manchester. Most importantly, he is a fan of Portsmouth Football Club.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Ian's research largely focuses on cities, with a particular emphasis on four issues: (1) public spaces and subterranean places; (2) policy mobilities; (3) sex work; and (4) fictional cities and crime:

Public spaces and subterranean places - Ian's research often focuses on two different parts of the city: parts that are public space and parts that are underground/subterranean. These two types of places merge in his current research project on pedestrian underpasses. A recent article by Ian and colleagues explores the sensory, gendered and aged dimensions of people's encounters with pedestrian underpasses. Elsewhere, he has continued the subterranean theme in an article examining the representation of the subterranean within crime fiction novels.
Policy mobilities - Perhaps his best known work is on policy mobilities. This work looks at the construction and movement of models of best practice. Much of this focuses on issues of planning, architecture and urban regeneration (e.g., Business Improvement Districts, suburban developments, waterfront regeneration, sporting mega-events). See his forthcoming book chapter on this issue. He has also written about the role of policy mobilities within sex work policymaking. A key part of Ian's policy mobilities research involves looking at the methods through which policymakers learn about policies elsewhere, focusing in particular on study tours, conferences, award ceremonies and, most recently, lecture tours.
Sex work - Ian has worked on a number of projects about sex work, many with an urban focus. These projects include ones looking at how clients of sex work are policed (and the use of John Schools in the UK); the international circulation of sex work policy models; the role of platforms within contemporary sex work; and activism by sex work academics. He has also written recently on why off-street sex work is less actively policed than indoor sex work in England and Wales.
Fictional cities and crime - Ian is examining the representation of cities within crime dramas and crime fiction. He has explored this through an analysis of the crime drama Breaking Bad and has explored how subterranean places and time are represented in Ian Rankin's long-running John Rebus novels. He is currently writing a chapter comparing the ways in which academics and those in the media think about the relationship between crime and cities.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Lecture tours, cultural propaganda and policy mobilities: an exploration of architect-planner William G. Holford’s wartime visit to Sweden, Ward, S., Cook, I. 10 Oct 2025, In: Town Planning Review
Police in England and Wales have, for many decades, intervened more in street sex work than indoor sex work, Cook, I. 1 Mar 2025, 50 Facts Everyone Should Know about the Police, Bristol, United Kingdom, Policy Press
"Maybe I’m a quiet activist": sex work scholars and negotiations of ‘minor’ academic-activism, Laing, M., Cook, I., Baker, T., Calder-Dawe, O. 1 Feb 2024, In: Sexualities
The subterranean in crime fiction: examining Edinburgh’s underground in Ian Rankin’s John Rebus novels, Cook, I. 27 May 2024, In: Social and Cultural Geography
Platforms, sex work and their interconnectedness, Swords, J., Laing, M., Cook, I. 1 Mar 2023, In: Sexualities
Sensory criminology, social identities and public space: encounters with pedestrian underpasses in Newcastle upon Tyne, Cook, I., Wiper, C., Smith, M. 15 Dec 2023, In: Criminological Encounters
The Rebus guided tour: Edinburgh, UK, Cook, I., Rowe, M. 14 Mar 2023, 50 Dark Destinations, Bristol, Policy Press
Time and detective novels: exploring the past and the night in Ian Rankin’s John Rebus series, Cook, I. Apr 2022, In: Clues: A Journal of Detection
Victims, witnesses and the criminal justice system, Davies, P., Cook, I. Nov 2021, An Introduction to Criminology, London, SAGE
Conferences, award ceremonies and the showcasing of ‘best practice’: A case study of the annual European Week of Regions and Cities in Brussels, Andersson, I., Cook, I. 1 Dec 2019, In: Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space