City Futures and Built Environment Planning Program colleagues remain officially recognised as ‘well above world standard’ for research in urban and regional planning (FOR1205). The latest Excellence in Research for Australia rating (March 2019) shows UNSW, along with the University of Melbourne, as the only ERA 5-rated Australian universities in this field. We also remain the only ERA 5-rated university for urban and regional planning graded as such in the last three assessments. With six other universities rated ‘above world standard’ in the new 2018 rankings, urban and regional research in Australia is looking very strong. We also congratulate BE colleagues in Architecture (FOR1201) and in Building (FOR1202), with both disciplines improving their rating to above world standard.

The ARC also released its first national engagement and impact (EI) assessment of Australian university research, with UNSW Built Environment obtaining the highest possible ratings for both engagement and impact.

The top rating for impact was based on the case study by Associate Professor Hazel Easthope and the City Futures Research Centre outlining research that has been fundamental in the planning, development, management and governance of apartment buildings and estates across Australia.

The case study titled “Developing, managing and redeveloping the compact city: Reforming the residential strata sector through policy, practice and public debate” shows how City Futures research has informed reforms to the NSW Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 and Strata Schemes Development Act 2015; led to changes in the policies and practices of government, peak bodies and not-for-profit organisations associated with housing; and contributed to public debate about the role of private high density housing in the housing market, its impacts on individuals and neighbourhoods, and the needs and desires of its residents.