Cities articulate the relationship between people, infrastructure and nature. As technology, local and global contexts change, new ways of living and working can play a transformative role in shaping healthy, just and productive neighbourhoods and communities.

A key question for this research program is how can cities and people thrive in a future of space premiums, densification, diversity, resource restraint, automation, digitalisation, artificial intelligence, 3D fabrication and radical decarbonisation? Our research focuses on how everyday practices and behaviours of city-dwellers come together to deliver innovation, entrepreneurship and adaptations towards just, healthy and productive cities. We seek solutions, actionable knowledge and new developmental paths to enable these outcomes.

Our studies include:

  • urban environments as social and economic infrastructure

  • long-term dynamics of urban transitions and path creation

  • digital geographies

  • migration and urban diversity.

Our PhD students are researching:

  • circular plastic economies — household practices and plastic consumption

  • smart cities — beyond technology, towards sustainability

  • green space and wellbeing — access, distribution and built form 

  • community gardens and migrants’ belonging.

Program leader

Current projects

Public housing renewal can be a tool for just cities and reconfiguration of urban dynamics. With funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, this project explores: 

  • the impact of public housing renewal on urban structures in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney

  • processes of learning and policy evolution

  • policy beliefs guiding policy formation and delivery.

This project is led by Associate Professor Christian (Andi) Nygaard, with collaboration from Simon Pinnegar (UNSW), Elizabeth Taylor (Monash University), Dr Iris Levin and Rachel Maguire.

The organisation of labour markets is intimately linked with urban form, space premiums and urban inequalities. With funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, this project measures the labour productivity effects from employment agglomeration and the impact on property prices in Australia.

This project is led by Associate Professor Christian (Andi) Nygaard with collaboration from Dr Sharon Parkinson and Margaret Reynolds.

Housing supply in Australia has been slow to respond to price increases in the past decades, increasing price premiums further. With funding from the Community Housing Industry Association NSW, this project develops a policy blueprint for enabling positively geared affordable housing projects in Australia.

This project is led by Associate Professor Christian (Andi) Nygaard.

This is a carefully curated collection that explores many key perspectives on the role of overseas migration in shaping Australian cities. The book is divided into four major sections threaded together by two themes: international migration and urban transitions.

The co-editors of this book include Dr Iris LevinAssociate Professor Christian (Andi) NygaardProfessor Peter Newton and Sandy Gifford.

Housing supply in Australia has been slow to respond to price increases over the past decades, increasing price premiums further. Funded by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, this project conceptualises how market processes can contribute to the provision of low-income housing and test stylised facts about filtering in Melbourne and Sydney.

This project is led by Associate Professor Christian (Andi) Nygaard with collaboration from Chris Martin (UNSW), Alistair Saisson (UNSW), Ryan v.d. Nouwelant (UWS) and Dr Stephen Glackin.

Urban inequalities are putting more people at risk of precarious housing security and homelessness. With funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, this project employs small area estimation technique to map the at-risk population in order to understand geographies of risk and inform policy innovation.

This project is led by Associate Professor Christian (Andi) Nygaard with collaboration from Deb Batterham (co-lead, Launch Housing), Jackie de Vries (UTAS) and Margaret Reynolds.

Housing supply in Australia has been slow to respond to price increases over the past decades, increasing price premiums further. With funding from the Community Housing Industry Association, this project collects available evidence in the Australian context on the monetary value of the wider social and economic services provided by social and affordable housing in order to spur innovation in their financing and provision.

This project is led by Associate Professor Christian (Andi) Nygaard

Our other research programs

Contact the Centre for Urban Transitions

There are many ways to engage with us. If your organisation is dealing with a complex problem, get in touch to discuss how we can work together to provide solutions. Call us on +61 3 9214 5286 or email cutransitions@swinburne.edu.au.  

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