Short bio

Cameron McEwan is associate professor of architecture at Northumbria School of Architecture and director of the AE Foundation. Cameron’s research focuses on the relationship between architectural typology, representation, and subjectivity to engage critical approaches addressing the urban/Anthropocene condition. He has presented and exhibited work at the Architectural Association London, Cooper Union New York, TU Graz, and the Venice Architecture Biennale. His writing appears in Architecture and Culture, arq, Drawing On, JAE, MONU, and elsewhere. Recent projects include a forthcoming special issue of The Journal of Architecture on urban peripheries and the Anthropocene, his solo exhibition Tracing Rossi at Stallan-Brand gallery in Glasgow, and his book Analogical City, published by punctum in 2024.

Extended bio

Cameron McEwan is associate professor of architecture, architectural theorist, and educator at Northumbria School of Architecture and director of the AE Foundation. He is Head of Equality Diversity Inclusion at Northumbria University Department of Architecture and Built Environment, and Design Research co-Lead for the Architecture Unit. Cameron holds senior fellowship of the HEA (SFHEA), with a reflective narrative on Intellectual Leadership in Troubled Times, and case studies on Leading Research-Enriched Education, and Mentorship as a Cultural Project. Prior to joining Northumbria in 2022, Cameron led the Architecture Humanities research cluster and was Research Environment Lead for UoA32 for REF2021 at University of Central Lancashire. In 2011 Cameron was founding member of the AE Foundation, an independent research institute for architecture and education. Cameron’s research focuses on the relationship between architectural typology, representation, and subjectivity to engage critical approaches that address the urban/Anthropocene condition. He employs close-reading, montage, and close-drawing as design research tools to investigate ideas, drawings, texts, and projects. Those interests and critical approaches cross between his research-led teaching and teaching-led research. His work appears in journals and venues including: Archnet-IJAR, Architecture and Culture, arq, Drawing On, GAM-Graz Architecture Magazine, Journal of Architectural Education, Lo Squaderno, MONU, Scroope, Outsiders for the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, and elsewhere. Cameron’s editorial projects include Accounts (Pelinu, 2019), Architecture and Collective Life for Architecture and Culture (2020), and Care and Critical Action for Lo Squaderno (2023). Cameron’s latest book is Analogical City (Punctum, 2024) and he is guest co-editor of the forthcoming [2026] Peripheries-Peripherocene special issue of The Journal of Architecture.  

Cameron’s work is published internationally in peer-reviewed and critical practice journals and venues including: Archnet-IJAR, Architecture and Culture, arq: Architectural Research Quarterly, Drawing On, GAM-Graz Architecture Magazine, Journal of Architectural Education, Lo Squaderno, MONU, Scroope: Cambridge Architecture Journal, Outsiders for the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, and elsewhere. His drawings have been exhibited at The Lighthouse Glasgow, Royal Scottish Academy Edinburgh, Ludoteca Venice Biennale, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, and elsewhere. Cameron’s editorial projects include, with Samuel Penn, Accounts (Pelinu, 2019); with Lorens Holm, Architecture and Collective Life for a special double issue of Architecture and Culture (Taylor & Francis, 2020); and with Nadia Bertolino and Cristina Mattiucci, Care and Critical Action for a special issue of the open access independent journal Lo Squaderno (Professionaldreamers, 2023). With Andreas Lechner, Cameron is guest editor of the forthcoming [2026] Peripheries-Peripherocene special issue of The Journal of Architecture. Cameron was Principal Investigator on the Northumbria University funded project Peripherocene (2023), which investigated the corollary between Anthropocene forces and the production of peripheral urban space. With Andreas Lechner, Cameron leads the international network, Peripheries.

Cameron’s latest book is Analogical City (Punctum, 2024), which argues for architecture’s status as a critical project through a close reading of Aldo Rossi’s neglected idea of analogical cities. The book is a major new interpretive work that theorises the analogical city for today by placing it in dialogue with contemporary political theories of the city, subjectivity, and the critical strand of the environmental humanities. Punctum books is a diamond open access press dedicated to paradigm-shifting books that develop speculative thought. You can download Analogical City for free here. You can read reviews of Analogical City at Archined.NL, Archidose, World-Architects, and The Carpenter’s Eyes. 

Cameron holds a PhD in History and Theory of Architecture from the University of Dundee Geddes Institute for Urban Research with a thesis on Aldo Rossi’s Analogical City. He graduated with a Masters in Architecture with distinction from University of Dundee School of Architecture (2009), with awards for Best Project in a Civic Context and a RIAS Drawing Award. Cameron has held research fellowships with the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain (SAHGB) (2018), University of Edinburgh Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities (SGSAH) (2014), and as University of Dundee Geddes Fellow for Doctoral Studies (2009–14). Cameron is Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA).

Cameron has led design studio and theory programs at: Northumbria University, University of Central Lancashire, Dundee School of Architecture, Edinburgh Napier University School of Arts, Wuhan School of Architecture, and Hong Kong VTC Architecture. Cameron has been invited speaker at IUAV Venice, TU Dresden, TU Graz, Manchester MMU, Glasgow Mackintosh School of Architecture, AA London, The Cooper Union New York, and elsewhere. He sits on the Editorial Review Board of the Quartile 1 journal Archnet-IJAR and Drawing On, an online, open access, peer-reviewed journal publishing architectural research conducted by design. Cameron is on the College of Reviewers for UKRI.