Mr Toby Parsloe

Toby is a second year PhD candidate and member of the Centre for Urban Conflicts Research (UCR) in the Department of Architecture. His PhD research examines the spatial implications of the ‘camp’ that has manifested in European cities during the most recent refugee crisis, with a particular focus on Berlin and wider Germany. He is also interest in wider conceptualisations of camps and refugee spaces, and the interactions that arise between them and cites.

Toby received his BA in History from the University of Bristol in 2015, where he focused on urban heritage and the spatial implications of memory in Berlin. He received his MPhil in Architecture and Urban Studies from the University of Cambridge in 2016, with a research interest in the socio-political and cultural aspects of architecture and urbanism. He continued to explore contemporary urban issues in Berlin, in particular the ways in which the city responded to the current refugee crisis. His Master’s thesis was entitled ‘The Urban Camp: the role of the city in the Berlin-Tempelhof refugee camp.’ He has spent a year working in the UK civil service and for the London Mayor’s office, which supported his long-term focus of bridging the gap between academia and built-environment policy making to establish better evidenced approaches to urbanism in both the public and private sectors.