Green Infrastructure
Creating and embedding knowledge and technologies in smart design, construction and maintenance of green spaces, trees, parks, rain gardens, green roofs and facades throughout the urban landscape.
Academic staff
The following staff are available to supervise honours and masters research in the field of green infrastructure.
Mr John Rayner
Research in green roofs and facades, including substrate evaluation, planting design, plant selection and evaluation.
Email: jrayner@unimelb.edu.au
Dr Nicholas Williams
Urban ecology research with a focus on biodiversity patterns in cities and towns, and the many ecosystem services urban vegetation can provide to urban areas.
Project topics:
- Native grassland ecology and restoration
- Plant ecology in urban areas, particularly comparative plant functional traits
- Development of green roofs and facades and quantification of their benefits
- Novel urban horticultural plant palettes to increase biodiversity
Email: nsw@unimelb.edu.au
Dr Claire Farrell
Investigations into the use of plants to make Australian cities more liveable through designing functional and resilient green roofs and facades, rain gardens, woody meadows.
Project topics:
- Designing the woody meadow - How drought stress affects resprouting of coppiced shrubs
- Plant selection for green facades
- Drought tolerance of Australian plants
- Plant selection for woody meadow raingardens
Email: c.farrell@unimelb.edu.au
Dr Stephen Livesley
Research of ecosystem processes in urban landscapes with regards to the environmental, social and biodiversity benefits of green infrastructure, urban trees and green spaces.
Project topics:
- Innovative ways to manage urban trees, green space and water to cool the urban landscapes
- Restoring the properties of damaged urban soils to improve woody plant establishment and growth
- Managing the urban trees and the urban forest as a socio-ecological system
- Getting healthy vegetation systems onto the building walls and into paved landscapes
Email: sjlive@unimelb.edu.au
Dr Amy Hahs
Urban ecology research to understand how urban landscapes impact local biodiversity and how to better manage and plan for this.
Email: hahsa@unimelb.edu.au
Dr Sara Barron
Urban landscape management and outreach to balance healthy suburban forests with development and high-density housing.
Email: sara.barron@unimelb.edu.au
Dr Rebecca Miller
Studies in the physiological and biochemical responses of plants to the environment and microbial associations, with a focus on plant secondary metabolites.
Project topics:
- Plant environmental tolerances and future climates
- Mycorrhizal associations in Australian plant species & revegetation outcomes
- Ecology and biochemistry of chemical defences in Australian plant taxa (e.g. in the Proteaceae)
- Horticultural and nutritional studies of Australian native food plants
Email: miller.r@unimelb.edu.au
Dr Camilo Ordonez
Understanding the social and ecological dynamics of urban natural resources to create resilient cities, with a focus on urban forests.
Project topics:
- Experimental approaches to measure the psychological and social impact of tree removals
- People’s attitudes, beliefs, and values towards urban trees and wildlife
- Socio-ecological dynamics of urban forests in Latin America
- Access and perceptions of greenspaces and trees in public housing communities
Email: camilo.ordonezbarona@unimelb.edu.au
Dr Kate Lee
Research combining environmental, organisation and cognitive psychology to investigate the links between nature and wellbeing in cities and workplaces.
Email: kate.lee@unimelb.edu.au