My work focuses on histories of architecture and urbanism in relation to social and cultural theory. A number of my books, articles and edited volumes have made a substantial contribution to our understanding of London as a global city and as a visual phenomenon. For instance, my trilogy of monographs The Spaces of the Hospital, (Routledge 2013), Rural Urbanism: London landscapes in the early nineteenth century (MUP 2006) and Re-presenting the Metropolis (Ashgate 2000 and pbk 2018) offer theoretically informed, archivally based readings of the city as that enjoy international acclaim. I have also considered London in comparative contexts with other cities, especially Paris, and Tianjin in China. More broadly my work on the architectural dialogues between Britain, Turkey and the Middle East has explored how the built environment in all its complexities is experienced and used in the formulation of national and cultural identities and how these operate in a transcultural context.

The transnational aspects of my collaborative projects have informed my recent book Architecture and Ekphrasis: Space, Time and the Embodied Description of the Past (MUP 2020). Here I focus on the interaction between visual images and written histories of architecture. Using a broad evidence base of graphic representations of architecture, and drawing on my experience of cross-cultural dialogues, I argue that these images are in fact a form of writing that have syntactical and linguistic qualities that tell alternative histories of seeing and experiencing space.

Previous Employment

  • 2016-2022 Professor of Art History, University of East Anglia
  • 2012-2016 Professor in Architectural History and Theory, School of Art and Design, Middlesex University, London
  • 1999-2012 Professor in Architectural History, Dept. of History, School of Humanities, University of Southampton
  • 1995-1999 Senior Lecturer and Director Centre for Studies in Architecture and the Decorative Arts, Department of Fine Art, University of Leeds, Leeds

Academic service (administration and management)

2004-9 University of Southampton, Director of Research and Deputy Head of School of Humanities, Member of senior management team (comprising Head of School and 2 Deputy Heads) for 175 academic staff, 100 support staff. Strategic responsibility for 6 units of assessment in Humanities and member of University RAE 2008 Strategy and Management Group responsible for preparation of all 33 UoAs submitted by the University

2012-13 Middlesex University London, Member of University REF 2014 Strategy Committee. 2014-16 Director, Centre for Ideas, a research institute to provide knowledge exchange between the University and end users/beneficiaries

Expert reviewer for external funding bodies

  • 2020-present Member Advisory Board AHRC/UKRI
  • 2020-22 Member REF 2021 sub-panel 32, Art and Design, History, Theory and Practice,
  • 2020-21 Chair of History and Theory of the Arts Assessment Panel for SKVC, Lithuanian Ministry of Education.
  • 2008-14 Member Advisory Committee for AHRC/EPSRC joint initiative Science and Heritage.

Editiorial Board membership

2005-present Founding General Editor Blackwell Companions to Art History

Research

Academic collaborations

France

  • 2009-present Projet de recherche pluridisciplinaire sur la ville de Tianjin, Chine with Université Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne) and Tianjin University, China.

China – all with Tianjin University, funded by Natural Science Foundation of China

  • 2019-2022 Co-I Comparative research on the planning and construction of the British Concessions and Settlements in modern East Asia
  • 2015-18 Premier external advisor for Studies on Everyday Landscape, Historical Changes and Preservation Strategies of Modern Parks in Tianjin from a Cultural Diversity Perspective.
  • 2012-14 Premier external advisor for ‘The cultural landscape and public space from a transnational perspective: Studies on urban parks in treaty ports of modern China ‘

Turkey and Middle East

  • 2005-15 Ambivalent Geographies with Middle East Technical University, Ankara. Funded by BAIA (2004-6) and British Academy Middle East Partnerships Scheme (2009-12).

Europe

  • 2006-15 London-Paris/Paris-Londres Comparative Urbanism, with Institut national d’histoire de l’art, Paris; University of Oslo; and Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.

Books

Dana (Professor of Architecture Arnold, P.O.A.M.S.O.A., Arnold, P.O.A.D., 2024. 'British Architecture A Very Short Introduction', Oxford University Press, USA.

Arnold, D., 2024. 'Women and Architectural History: The Monstrous Regiment then and now'.

Arnold, D., 2020. 'Architecture and Ekphrasis: Space, Time and the Embodied Desciption of the Past', Manchester University Press.

Arnold, D., 2020. 'Art History: A very short introduction', Oxford University Press, United Kingdom.

Arnold, D., 2020. 'Series Editor's Preface'.

Arnold, D., 2019. 'Series editor's preface'.

Arnold, D., 2019. 'Series editor's preface'.

Arnold, D., 2019. 'Series editor's preface'.

Arnold, D., 2019. 'Series Editor's Preface'.

Arnold, D., 2018. 'Re-presenting the Metropolis: Architecture, Urban Experience and Social Life in London 1800-1840', Routledge, United States.

Arnold, D., 2017. 'Cultural identities and the aesthetics of Britishness'.

, 2016. 'Paris - Londres', InFolio et INHA.

Arnold, D., 2015. 'A Short Book About Art', Tate Publishing.

Arnold, D., 2015. 'Biographies and Space: Placing the Subject in Art and Architecture', Routledge, United States.

, 2015. 'Interdisciplinary Encounters: Hidden and visible explorations of the work of Adrian Rifkin', IB Tauris.

Peters Corbett, D., Arnold, D., 2013. 'A Companion to British Art, 1600 to the Present', Wiley, Germany.

Arnold, D., Corbett, D.P., 2013. 'Editors' Introduction'.

Arnold, D., 2013. 'The Georgian Country House: Architecture Landscape and Society', The History Press.

Arnold, D., 2013. 'The Spaces of the Hospital: Spatiality and Urban Change in London 1680-1830', Routledge, United States.

Arnold, D., 2010. 'Art History: Contemporary Perspectives on Method'.

Arnold, D., Iversen, M., 2008. 'Art and Thought'.

Arnold, D., 2008. 'Series Editor's Preface'.

Arnold, D., 2008. 'Series Editor's Preface'.

Arnold, D., 2008. 'Series Editor's Preface'.

Arnold, D., 2008. 'Series Editor's Preface'.

Arnold, D., 2008. 'Series Editor's Preface'.

Arnold, D., 2008. 'Series Editor's Preface'.

Arnold, D., 2008. 'Series Editor's Preface'.

Arnold, D., 2008. 'Series Editor's Preface'.

Arnold, D., 2008. 'Series Editor's Preface'.

Arnold, D., 2008. 'Series Editor's Preface'.

Arnold, D., Sofaer, J., 2007. 'Introduction: Biographies and space'.

Arnold, D., Ergut, E.A., özkaya, B.T., 2006. 'Rethinking architectural historiography'.

Arnold, D., 2006. 'Rural Urbanism: London landscapes in the early nineteenth century', Manchester University Press, United Kingdom.

Arnold, D., 2004. 'Art History: A very short introduction', Oxford University Press, United Kingdom.

Arnold, D., Ballantyne, A., 2004. 'Introduction'.

Arnold, D., 2002. 'Reading Architectural History', Routledge, United States.

Arnold, D., 1999. 'Re-presenting the Metropolis: Architecture, Urban Experience and Social Life in London 1800-1840', Ashgate Publishing, United Kingdom.

Arnold, D., 1998. 'The Georgian Country House: Architecture Landscape and Society', The History Press.

Book Chapters

Arnold, D., 2024. 'Assembling the Monstrous Regiment'. In Women and Architectural History: The Monstrous Regiment then and now.

Arnold, D., 2024. 'Refracting feminine subjectivities through space, time, and architectural history'. In Women and Architectural History: The Monstrous Regiment then and now.

Arnold, D., 2023. 'Dialogues interculturels : le Collège anglo-chinois de Tianjin'. In Architecture et aménagement urbain dans la Chine moderne / ????????????:??????????, Éditions de la Sorbonne.

Arnold, D., 2023. 'Whose Country House?'. In Politics and the English Country House, 1688-1800, McGill-Queen's University Press.

Arnold, D., 2022. 'Ambiguous Exchanges: Transcultural Dialogues between Ancient Egypt and the West'. In Visions of Ancient Egypt.

Arnold, D., 2017. 'Introduction'. In Cultural identities and the aesthetics of Britishness, pp. 1-14.

Arnold, D., 2017. 'The Cultural Landscape and Public Space from a Transnational Perspective'. In Mergos, G., Patsavos, N. (eds.) Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development, pp. 105-113, Technical University of Crete.

Arnold, D., 2017. 'Trans-planting national cultures: The Phoenix Park, Dublin (1832-49), an urban heterotopia?'. In Cultural identities and the aesthetics of Britishness, pp. 67-86.

Arnold, D., Cohen, J.L., 2016. 'Introduction'. In Arnold, D., Cohen, J.L. (eds.) Paris - Londres, pp. 7-13, InFolio et INHA.

Arnold, D., 2016. 'Making London's Modernity: Capital, Memory and Nature'. In Manifestoes and Transformations in the Early Modernist City, pp. 165-177.

Arnold, D., 2016. 'Relative Values: London and Paris as Cross Channel Cousins'. In Arnold, D., Cohen, J.L. (eds.) Paris - Londres, pp. 131-167, InFolio et INHA.

Arnold, D., 2016. 'Unreason and the Ambiguities of Silence'. In Soussloff, C.M. (eds.) Foucault on the Arts and Letters, pp. 3-25, Rowman and Littlefield International.

Arnold, D., 2015. 'Introduction'. In Arnold, D. (eds.) Interdisciplinary Encounters, pp. 1-4, I B Tauris.

Arnold, D., 2015. 'The Soundtrack to History'. In Arnold, D. (eds.) Interdisciplinary Encounters, IB Tauris.

Arnold, D., 2013. 'Landscape and National Identity: The Phoenix Park Dublin'. In A Companion to British Art: 1600 to the Present, pp. 422-448.

Arnold, D., 2012. 'Making London's modernity: Capital, memory and nature'. In Manifestoes and Transformations in the Early Modernist City, pp. 165-178.

Arnold, D., 2010. 'Art History: Contemporary Perspectives on Method'. In Art History: Contemporary Perspectives on Method, pp. 1-7.

Arnold, D., 2010. 'Making London's modernity: Capital, memory and nature'. In Manifestoes and Transformations in the Early Modernist City, pp. 165-177.

Arnold, D., 2009. 'Rural urbanism: London's West End'. In Rural and Urban: Architecture Between Two Cultures, pp. 42-54.

Arnold, D., 2008. 'Unlearning the Images of Archaeology'. In Envisioning the Past: Archaeology and the Image, pp. 92-114.

Arnold, D., 2007. '(Auto)biographies and space'. In Biographies and Space: Placing the Subject in Art and Architecture, pp. 6-16.

Arnold, D., 2006. 'Beyond a boundary: Towards an architectural history of the non-east'. In Rethinking Architectural Historiography, pp. 229-245.

Arnold, D., 2004. 'London Bridge revisited'. In Architecture as Experience: Radical Change in Spatial Practice, pp. 261-276.

Journal Articles

Arnold, D., 2022. 'Visual Ekphrasis and the articulation of the past', Modern Philology: critical and historical studies in postclassical literature, 120 (1), pp. 65-88.

Arnold, D., 2017. 'Misprisions of London'.

Arnold, D., 2014. 'Building urban modernity: The British concession in Tianjin, 1860-2013', Outre-Mers, 382-383, pp. 89-102.

Arnold, D., 2014. 'Comments on the special issue: "Ambivalent architectures"', New Perspectives on Turkey, 50, pp. 189-192.

Arnold, D., 2014. 'Construire la modernité urbaine: la concession britannique à Tianjin 1860-2014', Outre-Mers, 382-383, pp. 89-102.

Arnold, D., 2009. 'Introduction: Art history: Contemporary perspectives on method', Art History, 32 (4), pp. 657-663.

Arnold, D., 2009. 'Panoptic visions of London: Possessing the metropolis', Art History, 32 (2), pp. 332-350.

Arnold, D., Rifkin, A., 2002. 'Art History: Editorial', Art History, 25 (1).

Arnold, D., 2002. 'Facts or fragments? Visual histories in the age of mechanical reproduction', Art History, 25 (4), pp. 450-468.

Arnold, D., Bending, S., 2002. 'Tracing architecture: The aesthetics of antiquarianism', Art History, 25 (4), pp. 421-430.

Arnold, D., 1999. 'Editor's introduction', Art History, 22 (4), pp. 467-471.

Arnold, D., 1999. 'London Bridge and its symbolic identity in the regency metropolis: The dialectic of civic and national pride', Art History, 22 (4), pp. 545-566.

Rifkin, A., Arnold, D., 1997. 'Art History: Editorial', Art History, 20 (4).

Conference Papers

Arnold, D., 2016. 'The Architectural Heritage of Cities: Some thoughts on Research Methods, Theories and Strategies for Preservation and Sustainable Re-use in a Global Context', in The 4th International Symposium on Architecture Heritage Preservation and Sustainable Development Tianjin, China, pp. 180-183.