Research projects

How can we enhance creative work through interacting with artificial intelligence (AI)? It’s a crucial question for our times and addresses an opportunity that is largely unexplored as things stand right now.

This project aims to discover how a novel form of acoustic treatment can improve acoustics for speech in rooms such as classrooms and open-plan offices.

This project seeks to develop an evaluation framework for auditing existing playgrounds and design guidelines for creating or retrofitting playgrounds that support the unique challenges of BLV children and carers.

In this project, the University of Sydney partnered with three regional NSW councils (Lithgow, Armidale and Parkes) to develop a series of ‘smart’ digital resources and strategies to support Councils in the assessment and design smart places for local community benefit.

This project seeks to untangle the role of infrastructure, cultural attachment and emotional wellbeing on the perpetration of private car use.

This project aims to develop new interfaces for autonomous vehicles to communicate with the people around them, and how this is linked to perceived trust and safety.

As part of a city’s civic and commercial backbone, the university campus is a dynamic and contested space for economic and political development.

This research focuses on the life and work of Italo-American architect Romaldo Giurgola, situating his work in its architectural, historical and biographical contexts across the second half of the twentieth century.

Digital technologies and computational logics are reshaping housing futures. Can they address current issues surrounding the Australian housing landscape and devise new policies?

The project investigates whether people are more likely to trust the technology and feel safe if they are able to understand how the system makes decisions and to directly influence its behaviour.

Learning from the smart cities of the South to enact  ‘the right to the smart city in the Global South’, and inform the global smart urbanism discourse in post-pandemic recovery—with significant benefits in strengthening existing, and building new connections between India and Australia in an area of bilateral national significance.

Changes in both income and housing security potentially mark a significant rupture in the postwar social Australian settlement and evidence points towards a generational shift in both housing and employment pathways for millenials transitioning into independent living.

We believe that transforming older apartment buildings rather than demolishing them creates better homes, better neighbourhoods, and better cities for all.

Building systems can be further augmented to reduce light energy consumption since occupants don’t actually need a significant percentage of conventional lighting.

Design shapes worlds and behaviours, and at its heart this project explores how interactive systems can encourage their users to try new things.

Working in partnership with the Tenant Union, this project evaluates the potential for innovation among the new digital technology companies targeting the private rental sector in Australia

This project aims to uncover how ‘hidden’ housing arrangements are produced within formal systems of urban regulation and risks or benefits for residents

This project aims to identify opportunities and barriers for the adoption of circular economy strategies in the Australian construction industry, leading to systemic-radical innovation.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the trend of ‘working from home’ (WFH). It’s becoming more common for various reasons, such as reducing office rent costs, saving time on commuting, more flexible scheduling, work-life balance, and of course minimising infectious disease transmission. Despite the growing trend – and its expected contintuation – there has been no research into workplace health and comfort under the WFH scenario. Indeed, current knowledge of the so-called indoor ‘comfort zone’ has evolved in the context of commercial office buildings.

In 2020, the Brain and Mind Centre (BMC), a multidisciplinary research institute at the University of Sydney, commenced a collaboration with the School of Architecture, Design and Planning (ADP) on research to better understand the role of spatial design in the delivery of clinical services and research in mental health, neurology, and neuroscience.

One in three Australian homes suffers from excessive dampness and mould proliferation, a phenomenon exacerbated by inadequate architectural strategies, poor construction practices and bad maintenance. It results from a lack of awareness and knowledge on the topic in construction.

Contributing to the Time-Layered Cultural Map of Australia, this pilot study explores the history of land alienation over a series of parishes in New South Wales

New research is showing positive results when harnessing 3D printing technology to combine timber and plastic waste and create high-performance building elements.

Advancing an intersectoral approach towards infrastructure, arguing for an integrated public-led infrastructure governance in Australia and beyond, and laying the foundation for mutually respectful coexistence of the Western urban planning governance and Indigenous governance.

Through the immersive virtual reality platform, this project will address the need to harness personalised, technology-enhanced interactive experiences among palliative care patients.

The planet will be home to 9.5 billion people by 2050, according to UN predictions. Approximately 68% of humanity will be living in cities and urban areas. Goal 11 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) – “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” – requires reliable, accurate data on changes to land use and land cover across the planet, especially its urban areas.

At the turn of this century the Catalan architect and urbanist Manuel de Solà- Morales suggested that urban environments benefit from “small interventions, which create a ripple, not comprehensive development”. Two decades on, cities now house over half the world’s population and their health has never been more precarious.