Nicole Gurran

Director, Henry Halloran Trust
University of Sydney

Nicole Gurran is an urban planner and policy analyst whose research focuses on comparative urban planning systems and approaches to housing and ecological sustainability. She has led and collaborated on a series of research projects on aspects of urban policy, housing, sustainability and planning, funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC), the Australian Urban and Housing Research Institute (AHURI), as well as state and local government. Recent research has included AHURI Inquiries on affordable housing supply (2016-17); housing markets, economic productivity, and risk (2014) and planning system performance (2012), as well as an ARC Discovery Project on the impact of urban regulation on housing affordability in Australian cities and regions (2011-2014). Professor Gurran has authored and co-authored numerous publications and books including Urban Planning and the Housing Market: International Perspectives for Policy and Practice with Glen Bramley(Palgrave Macmillan 2017), Politics, Planning and Housing Supply in Australia, England and Hong Kong, with Nick Gallent and Rebecca Chiu (Routledge, July 2016) , and Australian Urban Land Use Planning: Principles, Policy, and Practice (Sydney University Press 2011, 2007).

Professor Gurran teaches core urban planning and housing subjects at post graduate level, and undertakes post graduate and doctoral research supervision.

Prior to joining the School of Architecture Design and Planning, Professor Gurran practiced as a planner in several state government roles, concerning local environmental plan making, environmental management, and housing policy. She now serves as a State appointed member for the Sydney Western City and Sydney South Planning Panels, which consider matters of regional planning significance.

From this author

Inclusive and workplace acceptance of refugees
Partnering for refugee employment

When considering their talent pipelines, few companies think outside-of-the-box. Most refugees flourish in the workplace, and so do the businesses that hire them.

SDG 16
Institutional investors demand a more sustainable capitalism

Honey gathering is a solitary job in Indigenous communities. The collector then shares the honey with their community but refrains from joining in the honey feast themself. The idea is that the gathering is not about their gratification, it’s about their contribution to the collective.  

SDG15 Bushfires
Optimisation model as a guide to burning forests to save forests

Setting fire to parts of a forest to save it might seem counterintuitive to urban communities. There is no equivalent of torching a few streets to protect a suburb. However, amongst First Nations people in Australia, hazard reduction burning is a well-established practice.

SDG13 - coal mining
Net zero now – it’s the economy AND the planet

In Australia, as elsewhere, the climate wars have focused on the climate versus jobs dichotomy. Yet while Australia remains highly dependent on fossil fuel extraction for its national economic prosperity it has also become increasingly unequal in its distribution of that wealth.