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Urban Studies at Swinburne

Urban Studies at Swinburne focus on the performance of cities from a perspective of their delivery - productive, liveable, environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive places. Urban Studies provide specialised knowledge on the functioning of cities and regions from a multidisciplinary perspective: economics, sociology, behavioural science, planning, law and spatial science.

Urban Studies staff are thought leaders in their respective fields and are engaged in a broad spectrum of research and communication activities, including oversight of postgraduate studies covering the research interests listed below.

Staff in Urban Studies

Person Position Research interests
Professor Terry Burke Professor - The Swinburne Institute
(Available to supervise to Doctoral level)
  • Housing
Mr Scott Ewing Research Fellow - The Swinburne Institute
  • Social impact of new technologies
  • Information policy
  • Wired communities
  • Role of economic evaluation in social policy
  • Measurement of social change
Dr Stephen Glackin Research Fellow
  • Urban geography, community studies, youth studies.
Professor Kath Hulse Professor
(Available to supervise to Doctoral level)
  • Home, place and social disadvantage
  • The changing benefits and risks of home ownership
  • The dynamics of the rental sector (private and social renting)
  • Housing allowances
Associate Professor David MacKenzie Associate Professor
(Available to supervise to Masters level)
Dr Ian McShane Research Fellow
(Available to supervise to Doctoral level)
  • Community infrastructure and the local public realm
  • The commons and social production
  • Cultural heritage institutions and cultural policy
  • Education history and policy
  • Public policy and public sector management
Professor Peter Newton Professor
(Available to supervise to Doctoral level)
  • Sustainable urban development (Transitions, Springer, 2008)
  • Design innovation (Technology, Design and Process Innovation in the Built Environment, T&F, 2009)
  • Retrofitting suburbia ( Greyfields Regeneration, AHURI, 2011)
  • New urban technologies (Hybrid Building, 2010)
  • Sustainable consumption (Urban Consumption, CSIRO Publishing, 2011)
  • State of Environment reporting
  • Green economy (ARC Discovery project, 2011)
Dr Angela Spinney Lecturer - The Swinburne Institute
(Available to supervise to Masters level)
  • Homelessness
  • Family Violence
  • Marginal and affordable housing
Dr Wendy Stone Senior Lecturer
(Available to supervise to Masters level)
  • Housing, lifestyle, household consumption practices
  • Locational disadvantage, housing-based disadvantage
  • Housing, family and community life
  • Sociology of housing
Dr Monica Thielking Research Fellow
  • Disadvantaged youth
  • School psychology
  • Youth homelessness
  • Youth mental health
  • Youth policy