Melbourne Centre for Cities
designed to foster responsible and cosmopolitan city leadership, and the information it needs, in an interconnected and increasingly urbanised planet
Cities are on the frontline of today’s most pressing global challenges. The way we manage and study cities, and how city leadership is thought of in an interconnected but disrupted world, are critical to our collective futures. This is where the University of Melbourne’s new Melbourne Centre for Cities comes in with an explicit focus on urban governance as its main area of research, action and training, and a distinct purpose to foster and foreground cities research in and from Melbourne with a clear cosmopolitan outlook.
Building on the work of its predecessor, the Connected Cities Lab in operation through 2018 to 2020 specialising in the ways networks, international processes and information influence urban governance, the Centre focuses on the role of cities in major societal challenges, how city leadership can address them, and the information needed to do so in a connected but also disrupted and unequal time.
The Centre takes an explicit international point of view on pressing questions for urban governance. It does so by aiming to work with peers and places around the globe, explicitly connecting cities, urban researchers and key stakeholders in city leadership.
Our Partners
The below map is a live listing of all current collaborations across Melbourne Centre for Cities.
Click any icon for more details on our research partners or view the side menu for a complete listing of Partners organised by categories of: academic institutions, local and national governments, NGOs, business & philanthropy, IGOs, and fieldwork or site engagements.
Centre Management
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Michele Acuto
Centre Director
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Alison Young
Deputy Director (Academic), Lead: Seminar Series, Retreat and Annual Lecture
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David Bissell
Deputy Director (Pathways), Lead: Horizons Program
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Cathy Oke
Deputy Director (Strategy and Operations), Lead: Symposium, Marketing and Communications
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Alexei Trundle
Associate Director (International), Lead: Early Career Academics Convener, International Partnerships
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Sarah Bell
City of Melbourne Chair in Urban Resilience and Innovation, Lead: City of Melbourne Program
Centre Administration
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Paola Rossi
Finance Officer
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Marita Doak
Centre Coordinator
Centre Fellows
Centre Fellows are a committed, multi-disciplinary, and engaged community forming the Centre’s core team of scholars and practitioners.
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Michele Acuto
Centre Director
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Sabina Andron
Postdoc Research Fellow in Cities and Urbanism
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Zahra Assarkhaniki
Research Fellow in Urban Innovation
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Haritima Bahuguna
Research Assistant in SDGs Benchmarking
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Sarah Bell
City of Melbourne Chair in Urban Resilience and Innovation, Lead: City of Melbourne Program
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David Bissell
Director of Research Capability
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Lars Coenen
Honorary Centre Fellow
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Jennifer Day
Associate Professor in Urban Planning
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Lieve Donnellan
Honorary, Historical and Philosophical Studies
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Sebastian Fastenrath
Centre Honorary Fellow
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Bianca Fileborn
Senior Lecturer in Criminology
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Georgia Garrard
Senior Lecturer Environmental Sustainability
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Leo Goedegebuure
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John Hajek
Head - School of Languages and Linguistics
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Benjamin Hegarty
McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow
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Max Holleran
Lecturer in Sociology
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Louise Johnson
Honorary Professorial Fellow
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Anna Kosovac
Lecturer in Professional Skills
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Enzo Lara - Hamilton
Research Assistant in The Retrofit Lab
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Kajsa Lundberg
Research Fellow in Urban Innovation
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Derlie Mateo-Babiano
Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning
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Julie Miao
Arc Early Career Research Fellow (Decra)
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Cathy Oke
Melbourne Enterprise Principal Fellow in Informed Cities
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Rebekah Plueckhahn
Lecturer in Anthropology
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Daniel Pejic
Research Fellow in International Urban Migration
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Kylie Soanes
Research Fellow in Urban Biodiversity
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Jessica (Ika) Trijsburg
Research Fellow City Diplomacy
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Alexei Trundle
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Sustainable Urban Development
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Alison Young
Professor of Criminology
Graduate Researchers
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Loren Adams
Socio-Spatial Exploits: A Critical Anthology of Heists, Hacks, Hijacks, and Copycats
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Zahra Assarkhaniki
Research Fellow in Urban Innovation
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Elisabetta Crovara
Changing the workplace: embodied geographies and mobilities of coworking spaces
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Anna Edwards
The Night Time Economy in Australian Cities
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Hannah Fairlamb
Grassroots gender equality interventions in DIY music scenes in Australia
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Uly Faoziyah
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Anastasia Gramatakos
More than the who, what and where: Investigating Urban Food Forestry holistically through a relational and temporal SES lens
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Amelia Leavesley
Making sustainable cities: an operational model for local engagement with global sustainability frameworks
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Kajsa Lundberg
Ordinary Harms and Extraordinary Crises: Environmental harm and fire on the edges of the city
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Rewa Marathe
Feminists Speak Binary: Examining the role of digital technology in the feminist advocacy for women’s right to the city
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Carolina Mayen Huerta
Equity in access to urban green spaces (UGS) and its effect on well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic
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Hannah McNicol
The Belt and Road Initiative, the ‘Second’ Global Cold War and competition for infrastructure financing in Special Economic Zones in Cambodia
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Emma McRae
Participation, collaboration and speculation in urban digital twin visualisations
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Sombol Mokhles
Climate Change Experimentation in International City Networks
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Merrick Morley
Community resilience and shared spaces: navigating identity and difference in new multi-residential developments in metropolitan Melbourne
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Caitlin Morrissey
Making Up the Global City
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Daniel Pejic
City agency and global urban migration governance: a study of inclusive leadership at home and abroad
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Jana Perkovic
Form Follows Finance: Redesigning Housing Markets
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Hristijan Popovski
Mapping the Queer City: Criminological Cartographies of LGBTQIA+ Safety and Comfort
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Emily Ross
Cripping Disability and public space
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Alana Scully
Structures of Desire: Crisis and Australia’s national fantasy
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Joanna Stubbs
Visiting Fellows
Visiting Fellows are engaging practitioners and scholars outside of the University of Melbourne who join the Centre community for a mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and culture, plus enriching collaborations.
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Sarah Barns
QUT Industry Fellow in Design and Urban Infomatics | Cofounder and Director, Esem Projects
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Maya Costa Pinto
Doctoral Candidate, University of California/Davis
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Joyati Das
Visiting Fellow in International Urban Development
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Pablo Fuentenebro Alonso
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in International Urban Politics
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Kris Hartley
A/Professor of Public Policy, The Education University of Hong Kong
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Clinton Moore
Urbanisation Specialist at UN-Habitat
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Kazi Nazrul Fattah
Visiting Fellow in International Urban Politics
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Andreina Seijas
Urban Night Researcher, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Centre Associates
Centre Associates represent the Centre as champions in their respective academic divisions and are active participants in our community.
| Simon Batterbury, Faculty of Science | Dave McDonald, Faculty of Arts |
| Annisa Beta, Faculty of Arts | Una McIlvenna, Faculty of Arts |
| Judy Bush, Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning | Monica Minnegal, Faculty of Arts |
| Brad Clarke, Faculty of Science | James Murphy, Faculty of Arts |
| Ben Gook, Faculty of Arts | Nikos Papstergiadis, Faculty of Arts |
| Hannah Gould, Faculty of Arts | Kirsten Parris, Faculty of Science |
| Amy Hahs, Faculty of Science | James Petty, Faculty of Arts |
| Benjamin Hegarty, Faculty of Arts | Catherine Phillips, Faculty of Science |
| Julia Hurst, Faculty of Arts | Peter Rush, Faculty of Law |
| Theresa Jones, Faculty of Science | Soheil Sabri, Faculty of Engineering and IT |
| Catherine Kovesi, Faculty of Arts | Megan Sharp, Faculty of Arts |
| Stephen Livesley, Faculty of Science | Ariane Utomo, Faculty of Science |
| Claire Loughnan, Faculty of Arts | Mark Yaolin Wang, Faculty of Science |
| Claire Maree, Faculty of Arts | Nicholas Williams, Faculty of Science |
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Achieving Justice For Street Harassment
Developing victim-centred understandings of justice in response to street harassment
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Actionable Research
Should city research be led by cities?
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Cities After Dark
Urban life doesn't stop when the sun goes down
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Cities and the UN
What place do cities have in the United Nations?
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City Diplomacy
Do cities need foreign policies?
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City Networks
The networked frontier of city leadership
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City Resilience Strategies
City actions contributing to resilient urban futures
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City of Melbourne Chair in Urban Resilience and Innovation
The City of Melbourne Chair in Urban Resilience and Innovation is a collaboration between the University of Melbourne and the City of Melbourne, with the aim to jointly foster research and training in the field of city resilience and innovation.
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Communities, kava, court orders: Ways of possessing the Pacific city
Possession is which fraction of customary law?
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Comparative Imaginations
How do cities think of each other?
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Environment Politics Beyond Environment
How can environment politics go beyond the essentialist morality of ‘protecting nature’?
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Evidence to Action
A framework for evidence building and learning from local to global
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From Garden City to Eco-Citadel: Global Greenbelts
History of municipal greenbelts in the UK, USA, and Australia
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Future of Orbost and District Project
Implementing the Latrobe Valley Authority’s (LVA) Smart Specialisation methodology for developing a roadmap for the future of the Orbost district
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Gig Cities
How are gig economy mobile apps changing our cities?
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Great Powers and Urbanisation Project
How is geopolitics being shaped in the ‘urban age’?
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Healthy City Leadership
Supporting the World Health Organization in driving healthy and sustainable urban governance
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Innovate4Cities
What knowledge do cities need to meet their climate action ambitions?
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Innovation Infrastructure: Planning for Growth
The civilisation of human societies is underpinned by innovation
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Knowledge in Action for Urban Equality
Can we co-produce more equal cities?
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Leading Cities
Is urban governance delivering on its promises?
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Linking UN-Habitat and Universities
Harnessing the potential of knowledge partnerships
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Night Shift
Planning and designing night-time economies for night shift workers in Australian Cities
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Philanthropy and the City
What is the role of philanthropic institutions in the future of cities?
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Project Night Justice
Building safer cities for women and gender diverse people
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Promoting Urban Nature and Biodiversity Conservation
Cities play a critical role in combatting the dual biodiversity extinction and climate crises
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The Retrofit Lab
The Retrofit Lab is a Research and Innovation Laboratory activating the transition of Melbourne's buildings, infrastructure and landscapes for a healthy, sustainable, and resilient city
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Science and the Future of Cities
A Nature Sustainability Expert Panel
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SDGs Cities Challenge
A collaborative project contributing to the implementation of key urban Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets and indicators
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SDGs for Melbourne
Localising the SDGs: A Strategic Prioritisation Framework for City of Melbourne
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Spatial Justice
Justice in the Streets: Responses to Public Homelessness and Public Dissent
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Student-City Policy Innovation
How can cities best work with young people to shape global energy transitions and climate action?
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Tackling a global pandemic in Asian megacities
What policy lessons can be drawn from responses to global health shocks build inclusive and resilient cities?
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Urban Migration
What powers do cities have to govern the inclusion of migrants and refugees?
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Urban Observatories
Leveraging urban data to shape cities
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Working Away
How working away is changing home
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Young Mayors
Backing young people who want to take an active role in their local community
At Melbourne Centre for Cities we go beyond traditional text-based research outputs. Through the Connected Cities podcast we bring you urban experts from around the globe offering prompts, provocations, and casual conversations around city life and governance.
Our show notes deliver links to companion publications and references made in each episode, plus transcripts for accessibility.
Get in touch: urban research is an inherently collaborative endeavour!
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Vacancies
Want to work with us? Job vacancies at the Centre are listed here
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Visiting Fellows
Visiting Fellows are engaging practitioners and scholars outside of the University of Melbourne who join the Centre community for a mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and culture, plus enriching collaborations.
We deliver education that builds upon Centre research to inform the next generation of city leaders and encourage research-led education.
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City Building | City Fix
Exclusively for Melbourne Centre for Cities staff, the City Building and City Fix series' aim to equip researchers with the skills needed to build a career in research, and address the challenges associated with their work.
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City Diplomacy
An intensive training program for early career city diplomats and those who work on cities’ international affairs. Delivered online over a one-month period.
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City Leadership
A two-week summer intensive designed to tackle the ‘international’ aspects of city governance and planning, with a focus on city leadership, the institutions and trends that underpin it.
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Horizons Program
The Horizons Program is an internationalisation program for early career researchers enrolled at the University of Melbourne. It is designed to expand internationally the horizon of career development imagination for graduate and early career researchers.
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Studio N: Managing Cities at Night
This intensive studio focuses on night-time governance, planning and policy for built environment practitioners and offers a venue gain an interdisciplinary and policy-relevant understanding of urban planning, urban design and architecture at night.