Professor Tooran Alizadeh
People_

Professor Tooran Alizadeh

PhD, GCert HigherEd, M.UrbDesPlan, M.Arch, B.Arch
Professor of Urbanism and Infrastructure
ARC Future Fellow
Phone
9351 8571
Address
G04 - Wilkinson Building
The University of Sydney
Details
Professor Tooran Alizadeh

Professor Tooran Alizadeh in an intersectional feminist, and a non-White woman of the Global South – born, raised, educated, and worked in Southern cities as a built environment professional. She, nevertheless, acknowledges two decades of living, studying, and working on the unceded lands of the First Nations people in Australia. Tooran’s ongoing research spans smart urbanism, infrastructure, and Southern urbanism.

She has an established track record on the equity implications of telecommunication infrastructure in Australia, as the first academic who demonstrated the ups and downs of the National Broadband Network (NBN) with attention to the spatial patterns of the mixed-technology NBN rollout. More recently, however, she has advanced an intersectoral approach towards infrastructure arguing for an integrated public-led infrastructure governance in Australia and beyond - laying the foundation for mutually respectful coexistence of the Western urban planning governance and Indigenous governance. This distinct line of inquiry builds solidarity with Indigenous sovereignties while making significant contribution to urban studies.

A second prominent research trajectory focuses on the global trends of smart urbanism from a ‘Southern urban critique’ - defining ‘South’ not as a location, but as a power relation that has long been used to silence and sideline. In this line of inquiry, she has increasingly adopted an intersectional feminist lens to investigate the socio-spatial implications of smart city development in India, as part of a broader research agenda ‘the right to the smart city in the Global South’ to 1) ‘expose’ in the sense of analysing and articulating the roots of smart city shortcomings; 2) ‘propose’ in the sense of working with those affected or excluded to construct normative alternative visions for ‘just smart city’; and 3) ‘politicise’ in the sense of clarifying the political implications of what is exposed and proposed, and supporting, organising, and mobilising around the alternative visions.

Tooran’s research is supported by a variety of funding sources (including an ongoing ARC Future Fellowship), has resulted in over 100 refereed publications, and made meaningful contribution to the public discourse around the urban and equity implications of infrastructure development in Australia and beyond - evidenced by numerous prime time TV and radio interviews, and hundreds of quotations in the print media. She is also the Associate Editor of Telematics and Informatics - an interdisciplinary high impact journal (IF: 8.5) on the social impacts of new technologies. Tooran was the co-convener of Smart Urbanism (Research) Lab at the University of Sydney (2021-2025), the lead investigator on the Infrastructure Governance Incubator (2020-2024) funded by the Henry Halloran Research Trust, and a recipient of the prestigious Research Accelerator (SOAR) Fellowship at the University of Sydney (2019 and 2020).

Project titleResearch student
The Nexus of Smart Cities, Informal Urbanism, and Climate Change in IndiaLekhana CHIDANANDASWAMY
Augmented game design in preserving cultural heritage with a focus on Chinese communityYifan KONG

Publications

Books

  • Alizadeh, T. (2021). Global Trends of Smart Cities: A Comparative Analysis of Geography, City Size, Governance, and Urban Planning. Amsterdam: Elsevier. [More Information]

Edited Books

  • Rogers, D., Keane, A., Alizadeh, T., Nelson, J. (2020). Understanding Urbanism. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan. [More Information]
  • Steele, W., Alizadeh, T., Eslami-Andargoli, L., Serrao-Neumann, S. (2014). Planning across borders in a climate of change. London: Routledge.

Book Chapters

  • Alizadeh, T., Clements, R. (2021). Endangered Infrastructure in Times of Crisis: Governance Enabling Resilient Communities. The Festival of Endangered Urbanism Review. 0: Henry Halloran Trust, University of Sydney.
  • Ridenour, D., Alizadeh, T. (2020). Designing Cities. In Dallas Rogers, Adrienne Keane, Tooran Alizadeh, & Jacqueline Nelson (Eds.), Understanding Urbanism, (pp. 61-85). Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan. [More Information]
  • Alizadeh, T., Iveson, K. (2020). Digital Cities. In Dallas Rogers, Adrienne Keane, Tooran Alizadeh, & Jacqueline Nelson (Eds.), Understanding Urbanism, (pp. 151-168). Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan. [More Information]

Journals

  • Ho, Y., Sarkar, S., Alizadeh, T. (2024). City sizes and economic roles: Urban typologies within the Australian urban system. Cities, 149 (2024)(104986). [More Information]
  • Prasad, D., Alizadeh, T. (2024). Cross examination of smart urbanism and Southern urbanism: A systematic literature review in search of ‘Southern smart urbanism’. Cities, 155, 105459. [More Information]
  • Alizadeh, T., Dutia, E., Clements, R. (2024). Smart Barcelona: the gap between inspiring rhetoric and lackluster implementation in transformative approaches. Planning Practice and Research, in press. [More Information]

Conferences

  • Alizadeh, T., Clements, R., Searle, G. (2023). Conceptualising public accountability challenges in collaborative infrastructure governance: Lessons from Western Sydney Parkland City. 9th International Megaprojects, Sydney: John Grill Institute for Project Leadership, University of Sydney.
  • Clements, R., Alizadeh, T. (2023). Future Infrastructure: Innovation, governance, and sustainable transitions. The Festival of Future Urbanism, Sydney: Henry Halloran Research Trust.
  • Searle, G., Clements, R., Legacy, C., Alizadeh, T. (2023). Tri-level governance rescaling: Enabling Sydney's spatial restructuring into three cities. Association of European Schools of Planning (2023), Nil: Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP).

Magazine / Newspaper Articles

  • Clements, R., Alizadeh, T., Searle, G., Legacy, C., Kamruzzaman, L. (2021). The infrastructure Governance incubator: A research agenda in times of crises. Planning News, 47(5). [More Information]
  • Alizadeh, T. (2021). The North-South divide in smart city development. Sydney Business Insights Website - University of Sydney. [More Information]
  • Alizadeh, T., Helderop, E., Grubesic, T. (2019). Around 50% of homes in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane have the oldest NBN technology. The Conversation.

Report

  • Gurran, N., Pill, M., Maalsen, S., Alizadeh, T., Shrestha, P. (2019). Informal accommodation and vulnerable households in metropolitan Sydney: Scale, drivers and policy responses.

2024

  • Ho, Y., Sarkar, S., Alizadeh, T. (2024). City sizes and economic roles: Urban typologies within the Australian urban system. Cities, 149 (2024)(104986). [More Information]
  • Prasad, D., Alizadeh, T. (2024). Cross examination of smart urbanism and Southern urbanism: A systematic literature review in search of ‘Southern smart urbanism’. Cities, 155, 105459. [More Information]
  • Alizadeh, T., Dutia, E., Clements, R. (2024). Smart Barcelona: the gap between inspiring rhetoric and lackluster implementation in transformative approaches. Planning Practice and Research, in press. [More Information]

2023

  • Alizadeh, T., Clements, R., Searle, G. (2023). Conceptualising public accountability challenges in collaborative infrastructure governance: Lessons from Western Sydney Parkland City. 9th International Megaprojects, Sydney: John Grill Institute for Project Leadership, University of Sydney.
  • Clements, R., Searle, G., Alizadeh, T. (2023). Epistemic silences in settler-colonial infrastructure governance literature. Geographical Research, In press.
  • Clements, R., Alizadeh, T. (2023). Future Infrastructure: Innovation, governance, and sustainable transitions. The Festival of Future Urbanism, Sydney: Henry Halloran Research Trust.

2022

  • Clements, R., Alizadeh, T., Kamruzzaman, L., Searle, G., Legacy, C. (2022). A Systematic Literature Review of Infrastructure Governance: Cross-sectoral Lessons for Transformative Governance Approaches. Journal of Planning Literature, 38(1).
  • Prasad, D., Alizadeh, T., Dowling, R. (2022). An investigation of the smart city development in India: multiscalar governance, fragmented planning and transformative opportunities for Australasia. 10th State of Australasian Cities National Conference, Melbourne, Australia: Australasian Cities Research Network.
  • Alizadeh, T., Clements, R., Legacy, C., Searle, G., Kamruzzaman, L. (2022). Infrastructure Governance in Times of Crises: A Research Agenda for Australian Cities. Urban Policy and Research, 40(1), 1-14. [More Information]

2021

  • Alizadeh, T., Clements, R. (2021). Endangered Infrastructure in Times of Crisis: Governance Enabling Resilient Communities. The Festival of Endangered Urbanism Review. 0: Henry Halloran Trust, University of Sydney.
  • Alizadeh, T. (2021). Global Trends of Smart Cities: A Comparative Analysis of Geography, City Size, Governance, and Urban Planning. Amsterdam: Elsevier. [More Information]
  • Alizadeh, T., Clements, R., Legacy, C., Searle, G., Kamruzzaman, L. (2021). Infrastructure governance: major gaps for Australian research and beyond. State of Australasian Cities Conference, Melbourne: SOAC 2021.

2020

  • Ridenour, D., Alizadeh, T. (2020). Designing Cities. In Dallas Rogers, Adrienne Keane, Tooran Alizadeh, & Jacqueline Nelson (Eds.), Understanding Urbanism, (pp. 61-85). Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan. [More Information]
  • Alizadeh, T., Iveson, K. (2020). Digital Cities. In Dallas Rogers, Adrienne Keane, Tooran Alizadeh, & Jacqueline Nelson (Eds.), Understanding Urbanism, (pp. 151-168). Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan. [More Information]
  • Alizadeh, T., Sarkar, S., Burgoyne, S., Elton-Pym, A., Dowling, R. (2020). Enabling Smart Participatory Local Government. In Rob Roggema, Anouk Roggema (Eds.), Smart and Sustainable Cities and Buildings, (pp. 189-205). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. [More Information]

2019

  • Alizadeh, T., Helderop, E., Grubesic, T. (2019). Around 50% of homes in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane have the oldest NBN technology. The Conversation.
  • Alizadeh, T., Sarkar, S., Burgoyne, S. (2019). Capturing citizen voice online: Enabling smart participatory local government. Cities, 95, 1-10. [More Information]
  • Grubesic, T., Helderop, E., Alizadeh, T. (2019). Closing information asymmetries: A scale agnostic approach for exploring equity implications of broadband provision. Telecommunications Policy, 43(1), 50-66. [More Information]

2018

  • Alizadeh, T., Farid, R., Sarkar, S. (2018). Airbnb: who's in, who's out, and what this tells us about rental impacts in Sydney and Melbourne. The Conversation.
  • Alizadeh, T. (2018). Crowdsourced Smart Cities versus Corporate Smart Cities. 4th PlanoCosmo International Conference 2018: "Transforming beyond Borders, Starting the New Urban Agenda", bandung: IOP Publishing. [More Information]
  • Alizadeh, T., Sarkar, S., Burgoyne, S., Elton-Pym, A., Dowling, R. (2018). Enabling smart participatory local government: Preliminary Findings. Smart and Sustainable Built Environments (SASBE), Sydney: The Society of Building Science Educators.

2017

  • Alizadeh, T. (2017). An investigation of IBM's Smarter Cites Challenge: What do participating cities want? Cities, 63, 70-80. [More Information]
  • Barbaric, M., Alizadeh, T. (2017). Gold Coast Light Rail performance-based public private partnerships: An effective delivery model? State of Australian Cities (SOAC), Adelaide: SOAC 2017. [More Information]
  • Alizadeh, T. (2017). Planning Deficiencies and Telecommunication Infrastructure: A Multi-level Investigation of the National Broadband Network in Australia. DISP, 53(3), 43-57. [More Information]

2016

  • Alizadeh, T., Shearer, H. (2016). Australian local governments and the early national broadband network roll-out: an online survey. Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance, 19(5448), 40-57. [More Information]
  • Alizadeh, T., Sipe, N. (2016). Telecommunications and transportation infrastructure: inter- and intra-sectoral borders - perspectives from Australia and the US. International Planning Studies, 21(1), 50-63. [More Information]
  • Irajifar, L., Sipe, N., Alizadeh, T. (2016). The impact of urban form on disaster resiliency: A case study of Brisbane and Ipswich, Australia. International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, 7(3), 259-275. [More Information]

2015

  • Alizadeh, T. (2015). A policy analysis of two digital strategies: Brisbane vs. Vancouver. International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, 6(2), 85-103. [More Information]
  • Alizadeh, T., Shearer, H. (2015). A snapshot of high-speed broadband responses at local government level in Australia: a marriage between federally funded initiatives and locally driven innovations? Australian Planner, 52(1), 42-50. [More Information]
  • Alizadeh, T., Sipe, N. (2015). Brisbane's digital strategy: an economic strategy for the digital age? Australian Planner, 52(1), 35-41. [More Information]

2014

  • Alizadeh, T., Sipe, N. (2014). Inter-sectoral and inner- sectoral borders across critical infrastructure: Lessons from the US and Australia. In Wendy Steele, Tooran Alizadeh, Leila Eslami-Andargoli, Silvia Serrao-Neumann (Eds.), Planning across borders in a climate of change, (pp. 90-106). London: Routledge. [More Information]
  • Alizadeh, T., Colbran, S. (2014). Introduction and evaluation of an online assessment to enhance first year Urban and Environmental Planning students' time-on-task. ANZAPS: Planning, Politics and People - Australia & New Zealand Association of Planning Schools Conference, Palmerston North: Massey University.
  • Steele, W., Alizadeh, T., Eslami-Andargoli, L., Serrao-Neumann, S. (2014). Planning across borders in a climate of change. London: Routledge.

2013

  • Irajifar, L., Alizadeh, T., Sipe, N. (2013). Disaster resiliency measurement frameworks: State of the art. 19th CIB World Building Congress 2013, Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology.
  • Alizadeh, T., Sipe, N. (2013). Impediments to Teleworking in Live/Work Communities: Local Planning Regulations and Tax Policies. Urban Policy and Research, 31(2), 208-224. [More Information]
  • Steele, W., Alizadeh, T., Eslami-Andargoli, L. (2013). Planning across borders. Australian Planner, 50(2), 96-102. [More Information]

2012

  • Alizadeh, T. (2012). Desired configuration of live/work communities for information workers: a new perspective on an old debate between mixed-use small towns vs. mono-functional suburbia. International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, 3(3), 264-282. [More Information]
  • Alizadeh, T. (2012). Teleworkers' Characteristics in Live/Work Communities: Lessons from the United States and Australia. Journal of Urban Technology, 19(3), 63-84. [More Information]

2011

  • Alizadeh, T., Dodson, J., Sipe, N. (2011). Metropolitan planning and NBN: A comparative policy analysis, Sydney vs. Brisbane. 2011 State of Australian Cities Conference (SOAC 2011), Melbourne: State of Australian Cities Research Network.
  • Alizadeh, T. (2011). Urban implications of telework: Policy gap in Sydney metropolitan planning? World Planning Schools Congress 2011 (WPSC 2011), Perth, Australia: University of Western Australia.

2010

  • Alizadeh, T. (2010). The Interaction between Local and Regional KnowledgeBased Development: Towards a Quadruple Helix Model. In Kostas Metaxiotis, Francisco Javier Carrillo, Tan Yigitcanlar (Eds.), Knowledge-Based Development for Cities and Societies: Integrated Multi-Level Approaches, (pp. 81-98). Hershey, PA, USA: IGI Global.
  • Alizadeh, T. (2010). Towards Efficient Regulatory Environment for Telework in the Digital Age. 4th Housing Researchers Conference (APNHR 2009), Sydney, Australia: City Futures Research Centre, University of New South Wales.

2009

  • Alizadeh, T. (2009). Urban design in the digital age: a literature review of telework and wired communities. Journal of Urbanism, 2(3), 195-213.

Selected Grants

2023

  • Infrastructure governance beyond government at times of multiple crises: A scoping study, Alizadeh T, DVC Research/External Research Collaboration Seed Funding

2021

  • Socio-spatial implications of smart city development in India, Alizadeh T, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Future Fellowships (FT)