Cristian is a Lecturer in Spatial Planning at the School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast. His research profile lies in the intersections between urban planning, urban design, and social theory. He is focused on the (qualitative) analysis of places, cities, and the urbanisation process through the lenses of political ontology, structure and agency, intersubjectivity, planetary urbanisation, urban morphology, and the (international) comparatives between comprehensive and strategic planning. Specifically, he is interested in planning policy for extended suburbanisation, suburban coalescence, clustering, retrofitting and density, and the emergence of interstitial spaces. Previous projects include (i) studies on innovations in urban design for high-density and suburban retrofitting, (ii) determinants and politics for/against urban sprawl, (iii) the role of urban interstices and in-between spaces in restructuring cities and the urban condition; the last is being further scrutinised through current research on Belfast’s 'interfaces'.