Urban and Environmental Planning
As the nation's equal top-ranked environmental planning program, we offer students a unique opportunity to be taught by world-class staff in an innovative and highly regarded planning program. Our focus is on the people and environment interface of planning practice theory and research. This gives students a special learning experience, offering a blend of social and natural science to better understand planning the social and environmental challenges facing cities in the 21st Century.
Our students have access to planning studios, local and international field trips, study-abroad opportunities, and work-placements that give them vital practical experience, With our focus on the place of SE Queensland in the global urban system, we equip students to plan for rapidly growing cities around the world. Our planning degree is respected worldwide and our graduates now work as Planners in Asia and Europe as well as around Australia.
Dr Tooran Alizadeh
B.Arch., M.Arch., M. Urb. Design, PhD (Urb. Planning)
Dr Tooran Alizadeh is a lecturer in the Griffith School of Environment. She currently teaches
- Urban Analysis – a second year course and
- Introductory Planning Studio – a first year course
Tooran uses a combination of her professional experience and research interests to enhance students’ learning experience. Her background is in architecture and urban design, and she received her PhD in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Sydney. Tooran has more than five years professional experience working as an architect, urban designer, planner and project manager in a range of different projects from metropolitan strategies to new township design. Her current research focuses on the urban implications of telecommunication with a focus on the National Broadband Network.
Ms Zsuzsa Banhalmi-Zakar, Lecturer
MSc, BSCMs Zsuzsa Banhalmi-Zakar is a lecturer in the Griffith School of Environment. She currently teaches
- Planning Practicum, the fourth year core-course for Urban and Environmental Planning students
- Environmental Assessment and Management which is a third year course
Ms Zsuzsa Banhalmi-Zakar worked as an environmental consultant for a major international audit and consulting firm in Europe, prior to joining Griffith University.
Her current research focuses on the environmental risk management, climate change adaptation and sustainable lending practices of financial institutions.
Dr Caryl Bosman, Senior Lecturer
Dip Arch, B Arch (Hons), PhD
Dr Caryl Bosman is a senior lecturer and was one of the inaugural urban and environmental planning staff members on the Gold Coast campus. Caryl challenges students to think outside the square and to find their own answers, but at the same time providing support and guidance in her studio courses. She has won the 'Best Teacher' award for her studio courses on several occasions. She currently teaches
- Introductory Planning Studio ( 1st year course)
- Development Processes Studio (2nd year course)
Caryl has a degree in architecture and has over 10 years experience working in architectural practices worldwide.
Her current research interests focus on Australia's ageing population and the housing implications thereof. She is also conducting research into planning studio learning and teaching methods.
Professor Paul Burton
BA (Hons) Town Planning, South Bank; PhD (Bristol)
Paul Burton is Professor of Urban Management and Planning, and Deputy Director of the Urban Research Program at Griffith University. He currently teaches
- Understanding Australian Cities, which is a wide-ranging first year course and
- Runs the Honours Program for final year planning students
His current research focuses on
- urban governance and how we manage our towns and cities
- public participation in planning
- the local politics of responding to climate change
- the every day lives of professional planners
Paul serves on the Urban Design Advisory Board the the Planning Scheme Review Group of the Gold Coast City Council and is also a member of the Gold Coast Committee of Regional Development Australia.
Dr Jason Byrne, Senior Lecturer
B A (Hons) Anthropology, B A (Hons) Urban and Regional Planning, PhD Geography
Dr Jason Byrne is a Senior Lecturer in the Griffith School of Environment. Jason specialises in the fields of urban geography, environmental planning and nature-society relations. He currently teaches
- Introduction to Environmental Planning (1st year course)
- Urban Analysis (2nd year course)
These courses are closely allied with Jason’s research interests, including his research on
- parks and green-space
- environmental ethics and justice
- urban environmental (3) quality
- ecological cities
Prior to becoming an academic, Jason worked for the State Government in Western Australia in various roles - a planning officer, environmental officer and policy writer.
Dr Eddo Coiacetto, Senior Lecturer
Acting Discipline Head - Urban and Environmental Planning
B Urb and Reg Plan (Hons) PhD
Since graduating from the University of New England in 1990, Eddo Coiacetto has worked in New South Wales as a Town Planner/Environmental Planner in Local Government and as a planning consultant in private practice. He has also lectured in Geography, Urban Planning, and Planning History/Urban History at the UNE. He currently teaches
- Planning Practice and Law
- Sustainable Development
- The Planning Practicum
- Site Planning and land Development Processes
His research interests are in sustainable land development, urbanisation and the role of the land development industry therein, land development processes, the planning-development nexus, planning education, and in cross-cultural studies of planning and urbanisation.
Professor Pat Dale
B A (Hons) Geography, M Soc Sc, LLB, PhD
Professor Pat Dale currently teaches
- Advanced Environmental and Planning Law
- Topics in Environmental Sciences
- Remote Sensing
Professor Darryl Low Choy
AM, MBE, RFD, MPIA, MEIANZ, MAANRM, B A, Graduate Certificate Higher Education, Graduate Dip (Urban and Regional Planning), M Blt Env (City and Regional Plan), PhD
Professor Darryl Low Choy teaches post graduate planning programs and is the coordinator of the Hong Kong student exchange program.
Students from his Strategic Planning Studio consistently win awards in the annual Planning Institute of Australia Awards of Excellence. His teaching expertise is in the areas of
- regional and strategic planning
- landscape planning
- natural resource management
His current research on urbanisation, climate change adaptation, values and natural resource management, informs his teaching.
Professor Low Choy has extensive industry experience as a practicing planner, and currently chairs or holds committee positions on a number of Commonwealth, State (Queensland & NSW) and local government organisations and advisory bodies in the areas of environmental and landscape planning and NRM.
Associate Professor Neil Sipe
Acting Director of Urban Research Program
B A Environmental Studies, MAURP, PhD
Neil Sipe is an Associate Professor in the Griffith School of Environment.
Prior to being an academic, he was a planning consultant in private practice, a financial analyst with an investment banking firm, and served as an expert witness in numerous land disputes. Neil is a member of PIA education committee. He currently teaches
- Transport Planning – a 4th year course and
- GIS – Geographical Information Systems
- Relationship between land use, urban form and travel behaviour
- International comparisons of planning systems
- Using spatial analysis to manage urban problems
- Oil vulnerability and social disadvantage
Dr Karen Vella, Lecturer
PhD (UQ), BRTP (Hons) UQ
Dr Karen Vella is a lecturer in the Griffith School of Environment and a researcher within the Urban Research Program. She specialises in the area of adaptive environmental governance and planning with a focus on natural resource management. Karen currently teaches the following 4th year courses
- Natural Resource Management Governance and Planning and
- Public Involvement and Community Development.
Karen's research is focused on understanding social, economic and governance barriers and opportunities for sustainability in tropical Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef.
Prior to becoming an academic, Karen spent several years managing social information for environmental planning and management in the Natural Resource Management sector and for the Australian Government at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
Karen has been a member of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation Reef Working Groups on Climate Adaptation and Attributes of a Resilient Reef and the Marine and Tropical Sciences Research Facility Rainforest Steering Committee.