Urban & Regional Planning & Policy

Research Areas | Our Staff | Our Students

Urban and regional planning research has been established in the Faculty since the late 1940s, covering a wide range of subject areas, including international studies with a focus on SE Asia and the Pacific; metropolitan planning; housing studies; regional policy and many other fields of policy and development. A recently established urban design program provides additional opportunities to conduct research into the design dimensions of urban form. Besides providing individual study areas for research, the Faculty is home to an extensive library collection and the Planning Research Centre, which is an independent university foundation.

For information about applying for a research degrees in Urban & Regional Planning and Policy, please contact the discipline head or any member of the discipline group.

• C. James and J.P. Lea - Improving thermal performance of low-cost houses for better health of occupants and to reduce costs of temperature control, ARC Linkage Grant (2002-2003).
• P. Phibbs and N. Gurran Boarding Houses – is there a case for Government intervention? funded by Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute 2003.
• N. Gurran – Housing Policy and Sustainable Urban Development: Evaluating the use of local housing strategies in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, funded by Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute 2002.
• N. Gurran - Sustaining Cultural and Ecological Territories in the Pacific Rim”, collaborative research project with researchers from the University of British Columbia, University of Chile and Seoul National University, with seed funding by Association of Pacific Rim Universities 2002/03.
• V. Milligan, N. Gurran and P. Phibbs A Practical Framework for Expanding Affordable Housing Services in Australia: Learning from Experience funded by Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute 2003/2004.
• P. Phibbs – Community housing management and stronger communities, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (2000)
• P. Phibbs – Economic analysis of private tenancy issues and related topics, Business Liaison Office Research Partners (1999-2000)
• P. Phibbs – Examining the feasibility of using the internet as a means of reducing market failure in the home building industry, NSW Department of Fair Trading (1999-2000)
• P. Phibbs – Housing assistance and non-shelter outcomes, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (2000-2001)
• P. Phibbs – Relative accessibility in Sydney, Strategic Partnerships with Industry – Research and Training Scheme (2000-2002)
• P. Phibbs – Women from non-English speaking background and the private rental market: another battle amongst many? Ronald Henderson Research Foundation (1999-2000)
• P. Phibbs – Developing and disseminating home maintenance and modification knowledge:The project is concerned with the issue of home modifications- these are changes that are required to housing to be able to accommodate people with disabilities or to simply help elderly people stay in their own home. Currently the government has a $20 million program that supports this task under a national program called HACC. The modifications can range from putting in grabrails in a bathroom to the complete redesign of a house (including ramps and lifts)
   
  The focus of the project is on developing and disseminating home maintenance and modification knowledge in order to improve outcomes in direct service provision as well as improving outcomes for the general community through capacity building activities. To assist this task we have developed a web site that is hosted in the faculty at: http://plan.arch.usyd.edu.au/hmm/

Asif-uz-Zaman Khan (IPRS scholarship holder)
My research will explain the relationship between housing mobility and children’s school achievement. The findings of this research will have a number of policy implications. If it is found that housing mobility and school outcomes are strongly correlated, it would highlight the importance of security of tenure. There is a large body of Australian studies linking housing and education and I hope that my research will contribute to knowledge in this field.
How are the employment possibilities in your field?
All of my class mates in the MURP class have good jobs in this field now – even the present group of research students are mostly engaged in their profession. I see a lot of job advertisements on the school notice boards these days and although I am not looking for a job, I have been approached by a large government employer. The URP discipline is a vibrant group. Researchers with different backgrounds assemble for discussions weekly and a wide range of topics are presented. Comments, views and suggestions from these seminars are very helpful in making my research work more robust. The large number of researchers who are active in the field gives me the opportunity to keep track of what is going on.