A photo of a green building taken from below.

Urban Systems & Sustainability

While urbanisation presents a number of opportunities including the promise of better services, stronger economies and connections, it also creates complex challenges. Our research focuses on understanding the structure, function and processes of urban social ecological systems, and the drivers and impacts of urbanisation.

About

While urbanisation presents a number of opportunities including the promise of better services, stronger economies and connections, it also creates complex challenges. Our research focuses on understanding the structure, function and processes of urban social ecological systems, and the drivers and impacts of urbanisation.

Groups

A group of researchers sit among large rocks and ferns outside a building.

We are a research group at the Fenner School of Environment & Society, led by Dr Steven Lade. We research human and planetary systems using concepts such as resilience, social-ecological systems and Earth systems with applications in water resource management, sustainable finance and more.

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Projects

Cities as Transformative Agents for a Climate-Safe Future

Student intake

Open for PhD students

People

This research looks at the identifying the costs and benefits of different trade off options so that governments in particular, and societies more broadly, can take better informed decisions around water use in China & SE Asia.

People

  • David Dumaresq

Members

Academic staff

Distinguished Professor

YangYang

Laureate Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Research Fellow

Sombol

Laureate Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Minh_1

Laureate Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Lecturer

Affiliate

Tim Baynes looks at camera and wears a blue suit

Honorary Associate Professor

Honorary Professor

Honorary Senior Lecturer

Honorary Senior Lecturer

Visiting Fellow

News

Across the country, catastrophes are unfolding as ecosystems collapse. But in a landmark study, scientists are pointing to green shoots of hope

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If you’ve walked up Mount Taylor any time in the last few years, you might have seen Dr Kathy Eyles. She’s the one holding the mattock and taking notes.

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According to a new study, the mass of all our stuff—buildings, roads, cars, and everything else we manufacture—now exceeds the weight of all living things on the planet. Professor Xuemei Bai spoke with ScienceMag.

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Australians are now being urged to embrace the native bird just as we do with our koalas and kangaroos. Urban ecologist and ibis expert Matthew Chard told The Morning Show that he hopes perspectives on the Aussie icon change when people learn more about the birds.

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A new technical guideline provides direction on how to think about and implement connectivity conservation in ecological management. How nature is inter-connected - and that includes us humans - is crucial for its ability to survive and thrive.

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A new project is open to Honours and Masters students to apply a new food systems model study the link between food production, food processing, and nutritional density across range of food stuffs from the horticulture, aquaculture and the live stock industries.

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