RMIT urban research wins at Victorian planning awards

RMIT urban academics and students have been recognised at the Awards for Planning Excellence – Victoria for their leadership in planning.

The 2018 Awards for Planning Excellence – Victoria, hosted by the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA), celebrates the best and boldest planning efforts in the state.

The coveted award for Cutting Edge Research and Teaching went to the RMIT Centre for Urban Research’s Healthy Liveable Cities Group for their landmark report Creating Liveable Cities in Australia that measures the liveability of Australian capital cities for residents and makes recommendations on how they can improve.

Accepting the award on behalf of the RMIT team and their Australian Catholic University and University of Western Australia collaborators were lead author Dr Jonathan Arundel and co-author Julianna Rozek.

Dr Arundel said he was delighted the years of work that went into making this report was recognised by leading planners and built environment professionals.

“The significance of being recognised by PIA is that we’re receiving acknowledgement from the peak body for research that its members should be aware of, support and use,” he said.

“That is very important to us because this is one of the groups we wanted to target with our research.

“We will now be put forward into the national awards which hopefully gives us a larger platform to further promote our work.”

Also receiving a nod from PIA were urban planning Masters students Naomi Beck and Achala Sirithunga Kalinga for their City of Whittlesea Community Environmental Park Feasibility Study.

PIA Victoria President Laura Murray said this year had been a fantastic year for planning evident by the award winners, commendations and nominees.

“Every year, the awards for planning excellence serve to highlight leading projects, people and groups within the planning profession” Murray said.

“These projects and people reflect a profession thriving on a Victorian development and infrastructure boom.”

Story: Chanel Bearder

  • Header image: Lead author Dr Jonathan Arundel (middle) and co-author Julianna Rozek (left) accepting the award for 'Cutting Edge Research and Teaching'.