ProfJua Cilliers
Deputy Dean
Office of the Dean
Orcid identifier0000-0002-8581-6302 (opens in a new tab)
- Deputy DeanOffice of the Dean
- University of Technology Sydney, Design, Architecture and Building, 702-730 Harris Street, Ultimo, NWS, 2007, Australia
FUNDED RESEARCH
Research field and focus:
Sustainable and green(er) cities: To provide evidence-led research on urban spatial transformation, in line with the global Urban Goal (SDG 11) to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
Recent articles in The Conversation:
- What makes a city great for running and how can we promote ‘runnability’ in urban design?
- Kids’ sport always cancelled due to rain-soaked grounds? Green infrastructure can help.
Recent publications:
- Urban density and child health and wellbeing: A scoping review of the literature.
- Laying the Foundations for a Child-Focused Cities Analytical Framework: Reflections From an International, Interdisciplinary Collaboration.
- Going Back to School: Reflecting on School Space as “Shared Space” to Shape Cities and Communities.
- Transformative Local Governments: Addressing Social Urban Challenges by Bringing People and Politics Together.
- Towards healthier, enabling environments for all: positioning the ‘runnability of cities’ as a spatial planning approach.
- Academic Knowledge on Quality of Life in Urban Africa: What Do We Know?
- Unveiling the Informational Imperative in Sustainable Development: A Comparative Analysis of Developed and Developing Nations.
- A triple whammy: how urban heat, housing affordability and disadvantage affect urban spatial resilience.
- Rooftop Food Gardens of Dhaka City in Bangladesh
Recent projects:
- Growing up in dense cities: Understanding the impact of urban density on children's health and wellbeing - funded by the World University Network (WUN): This project addresses the critical research gap on how urban density, specifically factors such as building height, typology, and green space availability, impacts children's health and well-being. Through transnational GIS analyses and a pilot study in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, this project aims to develop the "Designing Densely for Children Toolkit," offering an evidence-based framework and practical checklists tailored to different densities and contexts.
- Towards Child-Focused Cities Analytical Framework - funded by the International Centre for Local Democracy Sweden (ICLD): This research enabled a collaboration with local governments to reflect on children and youth inclusion to shape the Sustainable Development Goals in cities and regions. The project included municipalities from the Håbo partnership–Livingston (Zambia), Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) and Håbo (Sweden), as well as municipalities of Muranga (Kenya) and Chobe (Botswana). The research contributed to create a toolkit to reframe the current Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from children’s perspectives, in quest to plan and developed child-focused cities and regions.
- Shared Green Space Potential - funded by NSW Department of Education: Understanding the value of green spaces, child-friendly spaces and school infrastructure as part of broader social sustainability. This research reflects on the potential of shared green space by investigating the value of green spaces (direct and indirect, as applied in the NSW context), child-friendly spaces (recognising physical and social development needs across various age groups) and ultimately questions if current school infrastructure, in particular sport fields and open spaces can be better utilised, and shared, to enhance broader social sustainability.
- Sustainable Temporary Adaptive Reuse (STAR) Toolkit - funded by the Committee of Sydney: STAR is a re-activation strategy for underused buildings that may not lead to a permanent change of use. STAR is often a low-cost intervention for existing buildings, useful for addressing economic, social and environmental stress experienced in cities. It presents a new active approach to managing existing building vacancy by seeking to achieve a diversity of new uses on site on a temporary or trial basis. The project build on policy work already undertaken in NSW & align STAR to the City of Sydney’s priorities and values and seeks to mainstream new approaches for a COVID recovery.
- Transition towards Blue-Green-Infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa - funded by AWS‐Bekanntmachung, German Federal Ministry of Education and Research This research between North-West University (South Africa) and Bauhaus-Universität Weimar (Germany) created an evaluation framework for local stakeholders enabling them to assess the implementation paths for Blue-Green-Infrastructure. The transdisciplinary collaboration identified critical barriers and obstacles for both practitioners and research when implementing Blue-Green-Infrastructure.
- Creating child-friendly public spaces in rural areas - funded by the National Research Foundation (South Africa): This research investigated approaches to plan for rural child-friendly public spaces. It provided recommendations to enhance child-friendly spaces within the rural environment, by focussing on creating safe spaces, playful spaces and natural spaces where education, cognitive development and independent mobility of children can be enhanced.
FUNDED RESEARCH
- GRANTOlympic Legacies & Urban Futures: Australia-India Sports-led Urban Planning AllianceDEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS & TRADE3 Aug 2026 - 3 Aug 2028People funded by this grant:
- Biloria NM,
- Cilliers EJ,
- Ray M,
- Arindam,
- Narayan B
- GRANTYear 1 OMF dataset (WGEA 2024–2025): MRPV Towards Gender Equity Roadmap Outcomes Measurement FrameworkVictoria State Government - Department of Transport and Planning4 May 2026 - 24 Aug 2026People funded by this grant:
- Abd Al Salam M,
- Cilliers EJ
- CONTRACT RESEARCHCAP Case Study and Comparative Analysis RPT (Belize Pilot)THE COMMONWEALTH ASSOCIATION OF PLANNERS1 Feb 2026 - 31 Mar 2026People funded by this grant:
- Cilliers EJ
- GRANTMIRVAC Redevelopment of Harbourside Green Roof ResearchRace for 2030 Limited8 Jan 2026 - 7 Jan 2028People funded by this grant:
- Torpy F,
- Wilkinson S,
- Fares R,
- Irga P,
- Cilliers EJ
- GRANTFrom Sea to Structure: Greening Architecture and the Built Environment.The Trustee for the Alastair Swayn Foundation1 Nov 2025 - 1 Nov 2026People funded by this grant:
- Scardifield K,
- Wearne S,
- Ralph P,
- Ahmadian Fard Fini A,
- Cilliers EJ
- CONTRACT RESEARCHReflecting on the MRPV Outcome Measurement FrameworkVictoria State Government - Department of Transport and Planning27 May 2025 - 30 Sep 2025People funded by this grant:
- Cilliers EJ,
- Abd Al Salam M
- GRANTGrowing up in dense cities: Understanding the impact of urban density on children's health and wellbeingWorldwide Universities Network6 Jan 2025 - 20 Dec 2025People funded by this grant:
- Cilliers EJ,
- Biloria NM,
- Hemsley B,
- Barros P,
- Brindley P
- GRANTScaling Up Urban Nature: Lessons from Australia on Community-Driven, Equitable Climate Solutions in Land Use Planning “LINCOLN INSTITUTE OF LAND POLICY4 Jun 2024 - 1 Jun 2025People funded by this grant:
- Brugman Alvarez J,
- Cilliers EJ,
- Ray M
- GRANTNudging Towards Sustainability: Insights for Sustainable Consumption in Mombasa and VästernorrlandSwedish International Centre for Local Democracy14 Dec 2023 - 30 Apr 2024People funded by this grant:
- Cilliers EJ,
- Christensen P,
- Ntim O,
- Ghosh S
- CONTRACT RESEARCHEvaluating the Inclusiveness and Well-being of Educational Environments in NSWDepartment of Education13 Nov 2023 - 12 Feb 2024People funded by this grant:
- Cilliers EJ,
- Carnemolla P,
- Shirazi A,
- Christensen P
- GRANTInvestigating the impact of Environmental Social Governance (ESG) reporting on project governance and controlsProject Governance and Controls Symposium1 Sep 2022 - 30 Aug 2024People funded by this grant:
- Cilliers EJ,
- Datta A,
- Mathur S,
- Sankaran S,
- Moslemi Naeni L
- GRANTThe Sustainable Temporary Adaptive Reuse (STAR) ToolkitThe Council of the City of Sydney8 Nov 2021 - 8 Nov 2024People funded by this grant:
- Wilkinson S,
- Armstrong G,
- Cilliers EJ