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Professor Marco Amati

Marco Amati is a Professor in International Planning. He teaches and coordinates “The Urban Age” course (HUSO2341) and History of Planning (ARCH1412), for the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies.

While mainly focusing on trees and green spaces within urban environments, Marco is also interested in e-planning, urban agriculture, planning history and Asian cities.

Marco was Chief Investigator with Rob Freestone (UNSW) on an ARC Discovery Grant: DP120101732 (2011-2013). $152,000 Exhibitionism: codifying and communicating planning culture in Australia 1913–1951.

He is currently leading an ARC Discovery Grant: DP 150103135 “Seeing the good for the trees: remotely sensing the urban forest” with Cris Brack (ANU) and Steve Livesley (University of Melbourne)

He has supervised four Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students to completion and has been involved in the supervision of many other students. He was in charge of the administration of the ~70 HDR student experience for students in the Department of Environment and Geography (Macquarie University) 2009–2013.

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Urban planning history, ageing and planning, e-planning and the internet, Urban green spaces, Urban trees, Urban forest, Land reform in developing countries, Community planning and gambling, Eye-tracking and urban spaces.

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Projects

Regional Liveability

This project investigates the impacts on the lived experience of people in major Australian cities, focusing on the effects of land-use, diffuse air pollution, transport, urban heat and the interconnections between them.

Improved Urban Systems for Liveability

This project investigates how major cities function and the effects of their land-use, housing and infrastructure systems on the humans that live in them.

The Benefits of a Walk in the Park: eye-tracking participant views of films of parks

What do office workers in Melbourne look at when going for a walk in the park? This study examines the differences in what men, women and people with different levels of nature appreciation look at in films of walks through Melbourne’s parks.

Seeing the good from trees: remotely sensing the urban forest

We are trying to understand how to efficiently measure the benefits of the urban forest in Australian cities.

News & Blog

How can urban and environmental planning shape a post-pandemic future?

The adversities of COVID-19 have no doubt changed the way we think about our environments. Here, our teachers discuss the role urban, regional and environmental planning has in shaping a post-pandemic future.

Celebrating our deep-rooted love for trees

Givers of oxygen, providers of shade and shelters to our native wildlife – reasons to love trees never grows old.

Smart city tech keeps Bendigo residents cool by mapping hot spots

A new smart technology platform launched today in Bendigo will help residents keep cool this summer by mapping the location of urban hot spots in the city to avoid on hot days.

Tackling urban heat

Students on an RMIT Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) study tour in Barcelona have developed strategies to tackle urban heat – a growing challenge for cities around the world as urban populations increase.

Tokyo’s heatwave suggests risky temperatures for the 2020 Olympics. Here’s what the city can do

The Northern Hemisphere is currently suffering an unprecedented heatwave. In Japan, more than 100 people have died and tens of thousands more are in hospital due to heat-related illness.

How many people make a good city? It’s not the size that matters, but how you use it

Australia’s population clock is, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, steadily ticking away at an overall total population increase of one person every 1 minute and 23 seconds.

New plant app a force of nature at international internet awards

A new virtual greening app, based on research from RMIT and the University of Melbourne, has won both the People’s Voice and the Judge's Webby Award – the ‘internet’s highest honour’.

We’re investing heavily in urban greening, so how are our cities doing?

Governments at all levels invest a lot in greening Australian suburbs. Yet, in a recent report, we show that the greening efforts of most of our metropolitan local governments are actually going backwards.

Urban hotspots: why poorer suburbs can be 10C hotter

Poor and disadvantaged Australian suburbs risk having urban hotspots that are more than 10 degrees higher than those found in greener, wealthier areas, an RMIT University study has found.

Five lessons from Tokyo, a city of 38m people, for Australia, a nation of 24m

The release of 2016 Census data provides a good opportunity to reflect on the future growth of Australian cities. And what better example of the future to use than Tokyo?

When will the democracy deliver ‘car independence’ day in Yangon

At the dawn of the 21st century, planners around the world will consider a new agenda for cities. They would shrug off the dimly remembered nightmare of snaking concrete highways and smog-occluded horizons.

The Panopticons are coming! And they’ll know when we think the grass is greener

Does a walk in the park during your lunch break make you feel relaxed? Does lush greenery or a glint of sunlight on running water catch your eye and allow you to stare and rest your brain?

How environmental management is paving the way for a sustainable future

Sustainable Futures: Part Two explores the ways environmental management professionals develop and implement environmental strategy and action plans to secure the environment for the future.

In the world’s biggest city, the past offers lessons for surviving the future

A major campaign, “Cool Japan”, is underway to promote the nation as a “cultural superpower”. As part of a resurgence of interest in the Edo era (the name for Tokyo between 1603-1868), we want to suggest that “Edo Japan is Cool!”

Done like a chicken dinner: city fringes locked in battles over broiler farms

Since 1965 the per-capita annual consumption of chicken meat in Australia has increased ten-fold from 4.6 kilograms per person in 1965 to 44.6 kilograms in 2012.

Citizen scientists blitz Melbourne’s public spaces

Ecological gems have been uncovered in Melbourne’s parks during a campaign that involved “citizen scientists” capturing and recording the city’s biodiversity.

Publications

Ecological connectivity as a planning tool for the conservation of wildlife in cities

Dr Holly Kirk, Kylie Soanes, Professor Marco Amati, Professor Sarah Bekessy, Lee Harrison, Kirsten Parris, Cristina Ramalho, Rodney van de Ree

MethodsX

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“On private land we’re fighting a losing battle”: local government officer perspectives on urban forest management in the private realm

Professor Joe Hurley, Meg Caffin, Hugh Stanford, Dr Kaveh Deilami, Professor Marco Amati

Analysis & Policy Observatory

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Resilience and Adaptation Strategies for Urban Heat at Regional, City and Local Scales

Dr Karen Villanueva, Salman Shooshtarian, Julie Rudner, Professor Andrew Butt, Professor Marco Amati

Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience

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The city and the super-organism: A history of naturalism in urban planning

Professor Marco Amati

Offers a timely contribution building on recent works that demonstrate the power of ‘biological thinking’

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Revisiting the cooling effects of urban greening: Planning implications of vegetation types and spatial configuration

Percy Yvon Rakoto, Dr Kaveh Deilami, Professor Joe Hurley, Professor Marco Amati, Qian (Chayn) Sun

Urban Forestry & Urban Greening

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Allowing Users to Benefit from Tree Shading: Using a Smartphone App to Allow Adaptive Route Planning during Extreme Heat

Dr Kaveh Deilami, Julie Rudner, Professor Andrew Butt, Tania MacLeod, Geoff Williams, Harmen Romeijn, Professor Marco Amati

Forests

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The economic benefits of reductions in nitrogen loads from stormwater runoff by street trees

Mariana Dias Baptista, Professor Marco Amati, Tim D. Fletcher, Matthew J. Burns

Blue-Green Systems

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Leaf my neighbourhood alone! predicting the influence of densification on residential tree canopy cover in Perth

Alex Saunders, John Duncan, Professor Joe Hurley, Professor Marco Amati, Peter Caccetta, Joanne Chia, Bryan Boruff

Landscape and Urban Planning

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Urban Vegetation Cover Change in Melbourne 2014-2018

Professor Joe Hurley, Mr Alex Saunders, Dr Alan Both, Dr Chayn Sun, Dr Bryan Boruff, Dr John Duncan, Professor Marco Amati, Dr Peter Caccetta

RMIT Centre for Urban Research

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Variation in leaf area density drives the rainfall storage capacity of individual urban tree species

Mariana Dias Baptista, Stephen J Livesley, Ebadat G Parmehr, Dr Melissa Neave, Professor Marco Amati
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The seven lamps of planning for biodiversity in the city

Kirsten M. Parris, Professor Marco Amati, Professor Sarah Bekessy, Danielle Dagenais, Ole Fryd, Amy K. Hahse, Dominique Hes, Samantha J. Imberger, Stephen J. Livesley, Adrian J. Marshall, Jonathan R. Rhodes, Caragh G. Threlfall
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How eye-catching are natural features when walking through a park? Eye-tracking responses to videos of walks

Professor Marco Amati, Ebadat Ghanbari Parmehr, Chris McCarthy, Jodi Sita
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Where should all the trees go? Investigating the impact of tree canopy cover on socio-economic status and wellbeing in LGA’s

Professor Marco Amati, Bryan Boruff, Peter Caccetta, Drew Devereux, Joe Kaspar, Kath Phelan, Alex Saunders
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