ProfessorRobyn Dowling

BEc(Hons)USyd; MA, PhD (Brit Col)

Robyn Dowling is a Professor of Urbanism, following the conclusion of her team as Head of School and Dean of the University of Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning.

Professor Dowling's research has been recognised in a number of awards. In 2018, she was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences and in 2021 she was named the leading researcher in geography and cartography by The Australian's Research Magazine. She is an enthusiastic mentor of early- and mid-career researchers, and in 2024 was awarded the Institute of Australian Geographers' Griffith Taylor Medal for this work.

Her research develops rich understandings of the cultural and social geographies of cities, including in long-term research on the suburbs and homes of Sydney, which has been documented in international journal publications and her co-authored book Home, published by Routledge. In 2022, she released a significantly revised and updated second edition of the book. This work on housing and home is currently being extended in projects on the ways in which living in post-pandemic times shapes experiences of home, the digital transformations of gardening, and the value of design thinking and prototyping in developing affordable housing futures.

Her second strand of research builds upon the foundations of urban planning to explore the partnerships and complex relationships through which contemporary cities are governed, and urban governance responses to disruptive technologies. This work includes researching the new forms of autonomous mobility that are being forged in cities, the implementation of smart city policies, and innovation policies. She is currently collaborating on an ARC project on what it means to govern the city in the age of artificial intelligence.