STAFF PROFILE
Professor Libby Porter
Professor Libby Porter leads research on the politics of urban land, property rights and dispossession, critical urban governance, and decolonising urban planning.
Libby is a planner and urban geographer working on the role of planning and urban development in dispossession and displacement, and what we might do about it. Her research has examined Indigenous rights in urban and environmental planning; cities and diversity; gentrification and displacement through urban renewal; the impact of mega-events on cities; and urban sustainability; and urban informality. Her current work is in the areas of public housing, displacement and critical property studies, urban governance, decolonisation and the urban condition of settler-colonial dynamics of power.
Libby has held academic appointments in the UK and Australia and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Prior to her academic life, she worked in urban planning practice and policy-applied research in both local and State Government in Victoria, and was a member of the Expert Advisory Panel for Melbourne 2030. She is currently Assistant Editor for Planning Theory and Practice, leading the Interface section, and is a co-founder of Planners Network UK.
She has published a number of books in her areas of expertise including:
- Planning in Indigenous Australia: From imperial foundations to postcolonial futures 2018 (with Sue Jackson and Louise Johnson)
- Planning for Co-existence? Recognizing Indigenous rights through land-use planning in Canada and Australia 2016 (with Janice Barry).
- Unlearning the Colonial Cultures of Planning 2010
- Whose Urban Renaissance? An international comparison of urban regeneration policies 2009 (with Kate Shaw).
Her work has featured in various media outlets including:
- The Conversation
- Arena
- The Drum: Time to rethink gentrification
- Assemble Papers Unlearning Planning Practice
- Glasgow 2014 legacy 'may not happen', BBC News Scotland, 31 October 2011
- PG Cert Academic Practice (University of Glasgow 2011)
- PhD (University of Melbourne 2004)
- BAppSc in Planning (RMIT University 1994)
- Expert Review Panellist, Department of Infrastructure, Victorian Government (2001)
- Senior Researcher, Victorian Government Department of Infrastructure (1995-2000)
- Strategic Planning Research Officer, City of Greater Dandenong (1995-1997)
- Porter, L.,Spark, C.,De Kleyn, L. (2021). (In Press) Navigating the neighbourhood: gender, place and agency in children's mobility In: Children's Geographies, , 1 - 12
- Damiens, F.,Porter, E.,Gordon, A. (2021). The politics of biodiversity offsetting across time and institutional scales In: Nature Sustainability, 4, 170 - 179
- Porter, E.,Hurst, J.,Grandinetti, T. (2020). The politics of greening unceded lands in the settler city In: Australian Geographer, 51, 221 - 238
- Pauli, N.,Maller, C.,Mata, L.,Mahmoudi Farahani, L.,Porter, E.,Arabena, L.,Davern, M.,Higgs, C.,Ligtermoet, E.,Selva, G.,Atkins, M.,Mouat, C.,Follmer, J.,Kelly, D. (2020). Perspectives on understanding and measuring the social, cultural and biodiversity benefits of urban greening In: Australian Government, National Environmental Science Program Melbourne, Australia
- Porter, E. (2020). Indigenous Cities In: Understanding Urbanism, Springer Nature, Singapore
- Blatman-Thomas, N.,Porter, L. (2019). Placing Property: Theorizing the Urban from Settler Colonial Cities In: International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 43, 30 - 45
- Spark, C.,Porter, L.,De Kleyn, L. (2019). 'We're not very good at soccer': gender, space and competence in a Victorian primary school In: Children's Geographies, 17, 190 - 203
- Porter, L.,Jackson, S.,Johnson, L. (2019). Remaking imperial power in the city: the case of the William Barak building, Melbourne In: Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 37, 1119 - 1137
- Rogers, D.,Porter, L.,Steele, W.,Houston, D. (2019). Creating a thinking space for the rising stars of Australian urban geography In: Australian Geographer, 50, 141 - 143
- Porter, E. (2019). Learning to live lawfully on Country In: Questioning Indigenous-Settler Relations, Springer Nature, Singapore
3 PhD Completions5 PhD Current Supervisions
- Deep Timetable: A Noongar Rail History. Funded by: ARC Discovery Projects 2021 from (2021 to 2024)
- Social Mix: Measuring the benefits for low-income households. Funded by: Lord Mayor's Charitable Fund 2018 onwards- Grant from (2021 to 2022)
- Talking Country: Sharing Indigenous stories of place through mobile media. Funded by: ARC Linkage Project Grants 2018 from (2020 to 2024)
- Decolonising Settler Cities Symposium - Antipode Foundation International Workshop Award. Funded by: Antipode Foundation Grant 2017 from (2017 to 2017)
- Who owns the sustainable city? Urban redevelopment, sustainability and the politics of property rights in Australia, Brazil and Chile. Funded by: ARC Discovery Grant 2014 from (2014 to 2018)