My research explores and develops everyday futures and their implications for energy and transport demand, drawing on futures research and social theories of practice. I am interested in how working lives, daily lives and everyday mobility have changed since 1950. My current focus is on how planning practices make and shape demand for energy and mobility, and I have a particular interest in Garden Cities and New Towns as sites for futures research.

I have an undergraduate degree in Anthropology and Masters & PhD in Sociology, and my research interests continue to span the social sciences. Much of my research is characterised by innovative methodology, combining historical and contemporary work to study change across temporal and spatial scales.

I previously worked in The DEMAND Research Centre at Lancaster University, and the Sustainable Practices Research Group at the University of Manchester. I studied Sociology at University of Salford (MRes) and University of Lancaster (PhD), and Anthropology at the University of Durham (BA Hons). I have also worked as an educational developer in the academic sector, a researcher in the public sector and business/information analyst in the private sector.

If you are interested in finding out more then visit http://www.nicolaspurling.com

Everyday futures, energy and transport demand. Theories of social practice, sociology of time, sociology of the future, sociology of the professions. Studies of working lives, daily lives and everyday transport. Changing professions. Histories of planning. Garden cities and new towns.