Monash University in Melbourne, Australia has two PhD scholarships available for domestic or international applicants in Urban Planning and Design. The PhDs will contribute to a research project funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) called Remaking Post-industrial Plans: Urban Industrial Zoning Past and Future.

This project is led by Professor Carl Grodach and Dr Elizabeth Taylor of Monash University, and Associate Professor Joe Hurley of RMIT. The project will blend interdisciplinary approaches from urban planning, geography, and history to examine the changing functions and roles of urban industrial land. Through digital archival mapping, on-site analysis, and planner interviews, this project will develop a deeper understanding of how industrial lands and their regulatory settings are linked to changes in urban development over time. The research team also aims to better equip policymakers in planning for contemporary and future urban industrial activity within sustainable development goals.

PhD Project 1 – Remaking Post-industrial Plans: Contemporary and Future Urban Industrial Districts

This PhD project will focus on the relationships between planning regulations and the development of contemporary industrial districts. The successful candidate will study adaptations of industrial space that enable new business development and work opportunities that respond to the changing nature of work and land use in Australia. How do changes in zoning and other land use controls shape the function and mix of activities that occupy industrial land? How can policymakers better integrate industrial activity into sustainable and resilient land use agendas?

PhD Project 2 – Remaking Post-industrial Plans: Historical Trajectories of Urban Industrial Zoning

This PhD project will focus on the historical development of industrial zones in Melbourne, compiling and exploring original archival research into the trajectories of specific sites and planning policies over the 20th century. The successful PhD candidate will study under the supervision of Dr Taylor, Prof. Grodach and Associate Professor Hurley. Their project will leverage digitised archival material to produce novel spatial visualisationsand analyses of the historical relationships between zoning and industry change, producing a critical new appraisal of legacy urban planning practices. They will draw on and expand approaches to long-term change from historical GIS, environmental history, urban history and related fields by revealing temporal and spatial patterns and relationships between zoning and industrial activity.

Further details: https://www.monash.edu/mada/future-students/graduate-research/opportunities/remaking-post-industrial-plans.