Situated Research is led by Dr Amber Roberts, bringing two decades of experience across design practice and academia. We specialise in embedding rich, ethical and human-focused research into built environment projects - from early concept to delivery.
We were founded to bridge a gap we saw across the sector: research can drift too far from the realities of project delivery, while design practice often moves too fast for deep research. By bringing the two together, we make research practical, creative and impactful.
Our work draws on diverse international perspectives, such as our Landscape Institute-funded study on Urban Design for Ageing in Sweden and Japan. Published by Architecture & Design Scotland and Urban Design journal, the project reframed the conversation - from focusing on end-of-life care to exploring how public spaces can support healthy lifespans. This ethos - shifting perspectives and opening debate - underpins everything we do.
We define ethical placemaking as consciously shaping environments to benefit everyone, ensuring fairness and environmental care in the places we inhabit.
We were founded to bridge a gap we saw across the sector: research can drift too far from the realities of project delivery, while design practice often moves too fast for deep research. By bringing the two together, we make research practical, creative and impactful.
Our work draws on diverse international perspectives, such as our Landscape Institute-funded study on Urban Design for Ageing in Sweden and Japan. Published by Architecture & Design Scotland and Urban Design journal, the project reframed the conversation - from focusing on end-of-life care to exploring how public spaces can support healthy lifespans. This ethos - shifting perspectives and opening debate - underpins everything we do.
Our Core Values:
EQUITY | DIVERSITY | ADAPTIVE | COLLABORATIVE
We define ethical placemaking as consciously shaping environments to benefit everyone, ensuring fairness and environmental care in the places we inhabit.
Situated Research helps public realm practitioners and institutions to design, manage and reflect on projects through an ethical placemaking lens. We combine specialist consultancy, applied research and professional learning to foster more inclusive, reflective and contextually sensitive design practices. Our approach is collaborative, values-led and grounded in the belief that well-designed places emerge from rigorous thinking, ethical reflection and deep contextual knowledge.
Areas of Expertise:
Areas of Expertise:
CONSULTANCY
+ Inclusive design strategy & access audits
+ Heritage-sensitive landscape and urban identity
+ Socially and ecologically responsive placemaking
+ Ethical & collaborative design processes
RESEARCH
+ Bridging theory and practice
+ Design for equity in the built environment
+ Collaborative funding bids
+ Research into landscape and urban stories of underrepresented communities
CPD
+ Inclusive public space design+ Deep, reflective and rigorously researched training
+ Feminist, decolonial and diverse design perspectives
+ ParticIpatory and co-designed engagement
Our approach is grounded in rigour, care and collaboration. We centre the ethics of placemaking in every stage of the design and research process, working closely with practitioners and institutions to ensure that places are not only functional and beautiful but also equitable, reflective and responsive.
We use a combination of critical theory, particpatory tools, and place-based research methods to inform and enrich the built environment.
We use a combination of critical theory, particpatory tools, and place-based research methods to inform and enrich the built environment.
We work with practitioners and institutions across the built environment sector, including design studios, local authorities, cultural organisations, academic institutions and community-led groups.
Role:
Content and narrative curation, primary research, event curation, funding bid writer.
Landscape Institute,
University of Edinburgh,
University of Pennsylvania
Funding:
Paul Mellon Foundation and Landscape Institute Scotland.
Roberts, A. (2024). Ian McHarg's ‘imaginative connectedness' with Scotland: Tracing his transatlantic pedagogy and knowledge transfer in the mid-twentieth century. Journal of Landscape Architecture, 19(2), 8-17.
Roberts, A. (2019) “Design With Nature.” Landscape, Issue 4, pp. 17–21.
Urban Design for Ageing, 2018-2021.
Role: Primary research of best practice examples in Japan and Sweden, budget management, partnership management.
Role: Primary research of best practice examples in Japan and Sweden, budget management, partnership management.
Landscape Institute Scotland,
Architecture & Design Scotland.
Funding:
Landscape Institute Scotland.
Roberts, A. (2021) “Age-Friendly Urban Policy and City Design in Toyama City, Japan.” Urban Design Journal, Autumn.
Architecture & Design Scotland ‘A Caring Place’ Invited Blog Series, 2019.
Feminist Urban Design Workshops 2022-2025.
Role:
Content development and delivery.
Role:
Content development and delivery.
Manchester School of Architecture, Helen Iball,
Praxxis Studio unit,
University of Manchester
Role:
Principal Inverstigator, primary research, budget management, partnership management, event curation, bid writer.
Manchester School of Architecture,
Historic Environment Scotland,
Landscape Institute,
Ecole Nationale Superieure de Paysage,
University of Pennsylvania, Museum of English Rural Life, Prof Luca Csepely-Knorr
Roberts, A., & Csepely-Knorr, L. (2025). Michael Brown's Social Housing Landscapes in London: Design Intentions and Post-Construction Realities. Architecture and Culture.
Roberts, A. & Csepely-Knorr, L. (2017) “The Lost Glory of the Royal Northern College of Music Roof Garden.” The Modernist, Issue 24, pp. 48–52.
Roberts, A, (2024), “Social Housing in an 18th Century Landscape: HF Clark’s Broomhill Estate, Glasgow” The Pleasaunce, Issue 11, pp.18-23
Let’s connect if you’re working on:
• Inclusive or heritage-sensitive public-realm projects
• Research or funding bids that need grounded, critical expertise
• CPD design and delivery that challenges, informs and inspires
• Collaborative, values-led approaches to place design
• Co-design processes, particpatory workshops and public engagement strategies
info@situatedresearch.co.uk