Adrian Bua

Adrian Bua is interested in the intersection of democratic theory, critical political economy and public policy. His focus is mainly on public participation, participatory governance and democratic innovation. His past work focussed on the design of participatory-deliberative institutions. Contemporarily, he is interested in the politics of participatory governance and the role of participation in (de)democratisation and broader social change within capitalism.

Adrian joined IGOP in 2023 as a Marie-Curie Fellow, to research the politics of urban regime stability and change during the Spanish New Municipalist wave, 2015-2019. Whilst at IGOP he will also work on Horizon Project INSPIRE (intersectional Spaces of Participation: Inclusive, Resilient, Embedded) as co-investigator working on the political economy of participatory democracy.

Previously, Adrian was Lecturer in Urban Politics at the Centre for Urban Research on Austerity (CURA) (De Montfort University), as well as researcher at the New Economics Foundation, both in the UK. In these roles he worked on projects researching the urban governance of austerity (including colleagues from IGOP), community-led local economic development, and participation in social policy design. At CURA he also designed and led courses on Government and Business and the History of Democracy.

Adrian holds a PhD in Politics from the University of East Anglia, UK, where he also taught Democratic Theory, Qualitative Methods and Social and Political Theory.

Recently Adrian co-edited (with Dr. Sonia Bussu) a book titled “Reclaining Participatory Governance: Social Movements and the Reinvention of Democratic Innovation”, for Routledge, which reflects many of his future research interests.

Adrian has published in leading journals such as:

Critical Policy Studies (on the institutional embedding of participatory governance);
The European Journal of Political Research (on participatory governance in Barcelona);
Urban Studies (on urban regime change and municipalism in Galicia);
Public Administration (on the problem of scale and policy impact in participatory and deliberative democracy);
The Journal of Urban Affairs (on the urban governance of austerity in Leicester)
Policy Design and Practice (on participatory deliberative processes and policy agendas).

CONTACT

Mail: adrian.bua@uab.cat
Twitter: @adrianbua
Web: –
Research Portal UAB: https://portalrecerca.uab.cat/en/persons/adrian-bua-roberts
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5015-9605
Google Scholar Citations: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=p8lRdkIAAAAJ&hl=en

AREAS OF INTEREST

Participatory and Deliberative Democracy, Urban Studies, Critical Political Economy, Public Policy, Qualitative Methods.

SELECTED PROJECTS

The Politics of Urban Regime Change in the Spanish New Municipalist Wave (Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions)
INSPIRE: Intersectional Spaces of Participation: Inclusive, Resilient, Embedded (Horizon)