Dr Kevin Muldoon-Smith

Associate Professor

School: Architecture and Built Environment

Dr Kevin Muldoon-Smith is an Associate Professor in Strategic Public Sector Finance and Urban Adaptation at Northumbria University. With more than 20 years experience, he is Head of Subject for the built environment subject area at Northumbria, an established author, policy advisor and founder of the Adaptation, Value and Built Environment Research Group

His research, impact, teaching and consulting covers system-based analysis of international local government finance environments, taxation, methods of value capture, transition strategy and urban adaptation – with a specific focus on the public sector where he is a recognised expert in strategic public sector finance. This builds upon a decade of experience derived from senior positions held in public policy development and urban regeneration held at various local authorities and public sector organisations prior to his academic career.

The focus for Kevin’s research is primarily local government finance systems, regularly via international comparison and intersecting issues of governance, taxation, land, and property markets. He is particularly interested in understanding and exploring the ways in which spaces of politics, policy and the built environment are made up in practice – reflecting the relations of power within and beyond the state. It is within this broad context that he examines how systems of local government finance enable and constrain big policy issues such as devolution, austerity, local authority solvency, uneven development, urban adaptation, and climate transition. Through which it is possible to consider the workings of power, politics and the changing possibilities of policy intervention and reform. He has authored/co-authored more than 100 book, journal, chapter, and consultancy publications while his work has been featured in The Washington Post, Bloomberg, China Daily, Municipal Journal, Local Government Chronicle, Estates Gazette and across local, regional and national radio and television.

In terms of impact, Kevin works actively with public sector think tanks and policy lobbyists to transfer his passion for local government into practice – working extensively with the Local Government Information Unit to bring issues of local government finance into the wider public and political domain. He has been a regular invited speaker and workshop participant in various government departments and an expert witness to Treasury and Communities and Local Government Select Committees. While he has also contributed to studies commissioned by various All Party Parliamentary Groups. During this time, he has engaged with and advised senior business, government and political representatives and organisations in more than 20 countries on topics ranging from local government solvency to climate transition – including the World Built Environment Forum, The International Renewable Energy Agency, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the British Council for Offices.

Kevin is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, he holds teaching interests in finance, investment, taxation, adaptation and transition strategies and research methods. He has received various student and university awards for teaching excellence and is an experienced module and programme leader and external examiner at various universities in the UK and overseas. He regularly guest lectures in other institutions and organisations on topics ranging from local government solvency, fiscal decentralisation to climate transition and urban adaptation.

Campus Address

Newcastle City Campus
Sutherland Building (room 107)
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 8ST

Email Kevin

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Kevin Muldoon-Smith is an Associate Professor in Strategic Public Sector Finance and Urban Adaptation

Kevin’s research has evolved along three strands:

1) Strategic Public Sector Finance – where he investigates international systems of local government finance to consider how the sector can be more resilient and democratically accountable. He is particularly interested in how systems of sub- national governance evolve and transition into new modes of interaction with the state, and how this interacts with land and property interests. Latterly, he has also started to investigate how digital innovation (through machine learning and AI) can enable more meaningful and democratic methods of taxation.

2) Stranded Assets – where he investigates how new demand and legislative drivers are stranding land and property assets and the consequences of this for the public sector. He is particularly interested in how this situation can be countered through methods of urban adaptation and building based adaptive re-use. This research currently focuses on building vacancy and how new perspectives of urban planning and public service innovation can drive environmental transition.

3) Knowledge Exchange – inspired by the writing of Michael Polanyi, where he a) investigates the generation, dynamics, and transference of tacit knowledge in the face of new modes of learning, teaching, and working in an increasingly digital environment and b) develops methods of collaboration and knowledge exchange between universities, think tanks and lobbyists in order to enhance policy reform.

Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears (Italo Calvino, 1972).

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
BIM in retrospect for the existing built environment – Challenges and Implications, Sivashanmugam, S., Abdel Salam, H., Makinde, O., Khawanky, J., Smith, K., Maqbool, R., Cookson, M., Davidson, K., Anyigor, K., Gerges, M., Lodhi, M., Butt, T. 3 Oct 2025, In: International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation
Commercial Property Vacancy for Building Adaptation and Re-use, Muldoon-Smith, K., Pearson, J., Greenhalgh, P., Stonehouse, J., Moreton, L. 29 Apr 2025, Sustainable Communities through Digital Transformation, London, Routledge
Local government finance in Australia: Meeting the needs of the future?, Muldoon-Smith, K., Sandford, M., Pearson, J. 21 Oct 2025
Lo-Fi Adaptive Re-Use in the Ouseburn Valley: What the Physical Materiality of Everyday Historical Industrial Buildings Can Tell Us About Sustaining Cultural and Creative Clusters, Muldoon-Smith, K., Moreton, L., Loxley, J. 29 Jan 2025, In: Buildings
Multiple grants and limited local discretion: local government finance in Ireland, Muldoon-Smith, K., Pearson, J., Sandford, M. 3 Jun 2025

Current and Recent Projects

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
CAPE Seed Funding Application - Kevin Muldoon-Smith, Muldoon-Smith, K. (Principal Investigator), Research England, 01/04/22 - 31/12/22, £9,935.00

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Hosting an academic visitor: Eric Scorsone 2025
Invited talk: English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill - Possibilities and (Missed?) Opportunities 2025
Invited talk: Local government finance reform in Wales 2025
Invited talk: Local government finance reform in Wales 2025
Other: Radio 5 live discussion of local government finance and tax 2025
Invited talk: Financing sub-national government 2025
Other: Sky news interview: local government finances 2025
Oral presentation: The Pavement Project 2025
Participating in a conference, workshop, ...: Urban Surfaces Research Network Workshop 2025
Visiting an external academic institution: Department of Communities and Local Government 2025

PGR Supervision

Jane Loxley Who needs a workspace: accommodating employee experience of the new hybrid-built built environment in the 21st century. Start Date: 15/09/2021