Professor Libby Porter is the Director of the Centre for Urban Research
As a scholar of cities, Libby is motivated by the need to address urgent social and ecological injustices that stem from urbanisation processes. Her research aims to sharpen our understanding about the relationship between land and housing justice, the displacing effects of urban renewal and gentrification, critical questions of urban governance, the impact of mega-events, urban sustainable development, and the politics of urban property. In her work and life, Libby attempts to reckon with the politics and practices of learning, as a non-Indigenous person, to live lawfully on Country.
Her books include Unlearning the Colonial Cultures of Planning (2010 Ashgate), Planning for Coexistence? (with Janice Barry Routledge 2016) and Planning in Indigenous Australia: From imperial foundations to postcolonial futures with Sue Jackson and Louise Johnson (Routledge 2018). Libby has worked in urban policy and planning practice and taught in planning and geography schools in the UK and Australia. She co-founded Planners Network UK, a progressive voice for radical planning in the UK, is a member of the International Network of Urban Research and Action, and is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy.
Libby is always keen to speak with students interested in pursuing postgraduate study in areas related to her research interests especially in the fields of settler-colonial urbanism, social housing policy, critical property studies, gentrification and urban regeneration.
The Centre for Urban Research consists of a number of Centre-based researchers from across RMIT University, PhD students and honorary members, including colleagues from local, national and international institutions.
Leadership team
David Kelly
Deputy Associate Director, Geographies of Land, Home and Place
Iris Levin
Deputy Associate Director, Geographies of Land, Home and Place
Sarah Foster
Associate Director, Planning & Transport for Healthy Cities
Afshin Jafari
Deputy Associate Director, Planning & Transport for Healthy Cities
Chris De Gruyter
Deputy Associate Director, Planning & Transport in Healthy Cities
Bhavna Middha
Deputy Associate Director, Regenerative Environments & Climate Action
Rebecca Olive
Associate Director, Regenerative Environments & Climate Action
Thami Croeser
Deputy Associate Director, Regenerative Environments & Climate Action
People
- Alan Both - Research Fellow
- Alexandra Kleeman - Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- Alexandre da Silva Faustino - Researcher and Lecturer
- Anahita Gangwani - Impact and Engagement Officer
- Andrew Butt - Andrew Butt Associate Dean, Sustainability & Urban Planning
- Ani Landau-Ward - Lecturer
- Annette Kroen - Senior Research Fellow
- Anthony Kent - Lecturer
- Ascelin Gordon - Senior Lecturer
- Ashton De Silva - Professor
- Benno Engels - Dr., Level C Academic Staff Member
- Brigid Papaix - Knowledge Broker and Partnerships Development Manager
- Carl Higgs - Research Fellow
- Cecily Maller - Professor
- Darryn McEvoy - Professor
- David Rousell - Senior Lecturer in Creative Education
- Declan Martin - Research Associate
- Ellen van Holstein - VCRF Postdoctoral Fellow
- Erica Kuligowski - Principal Research Fellow
- Fatemeh Roohafza - Research Fellow
- Hector Manuel Padilla Gil - Researcher
- Holly Kirk - Research Fellow
- Jacinta Humphrey - Postdoctoral Researcher
- Jago Dodson - Professor of Urban Policy & Director, Urban Futures Enabling Impact Platform
- Jasmine Pearson - Research Fellow
- Jessica Rivera Villicana - Research Fellow, Artificial Intelligence for Geospatial Urban Research
- Joe Hurley - Professor of Sustainability and Urban Planning
- Julie Lawson - Adjunct Professor
- Kajsa Lundberg - Research Fellow - Sustainable Consumption and Policy
- Kaveh Deilami - Research Fellow
- Leonardo Nogueira de Moraes - Research Fellow, Disaster Resilience
- Liam Davies - Research Fellow / Lecturer
- Lucy Gunn - Senior Research Fellow
- Mahsa Abdollahyar - Research Assistant
- Manoj Chandrabose - Research Fellow
- Marco Amati - Professor
- Maria Sortino - Partnerships & Development Coordinator
- Melanie Davern - Director, Australian Urban Observatory
- Melanie Lowe - Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow
- Melissa Neave - Senior Lecturer
- Mittul Vahanvati - Senior Lecturer
- Monica Trubiano - Coordinator, Research Operations College of Design and Social Context
- Nicola Willand - Senior Lecturer
- Nícolas Guerra-Tão - Research Assistant
- Nooshin Torabi - Lecturer
- Ori Gudes - Research Fellow
- Priya Kunjan - Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- Rebecca Clements - Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- Rebecca Roberts - GIS Analyst
- Rosie Morrison - Research Fellow
- Ryan Turner - Research Assistant
- Sapan Tiwari - Research Assistant
- Sarah Barns - Vice-Chancellors Senior Research Fellow
- Sarah Bekessy - Professor, Sustainability & Urban Planning
- Sarah Robertson - Research fellow
- Solmaz Hosseinioon - Research Fellow
- Stefan Siebel - PhD, Research Assistant
- Steve Pemberton - Researcher
- Susie Moloney - Associate Professor Sustainability and Urban Planning
- Tiebei Li - Senior Research Fellow
- Wendy Steele - Professor
- Yaguang (Ozzy) Tao - Research fellow
