Dr Penny Allan, Professor of Landscape Architecture at UTS teaches and researches in the areas of urban and regional resilience and design. As landscape director at the NSW Government Architects office Penny designed the Master Plan for Victoria Park in Zetland in 1999, the first water sensitive urban design urban development in Australia. Her most recent research explores new paradigms for resilience and adaptation to climate change for coastal communities affected by fire and flood. She is currently investigating the potential for the Chain of Ponds landscape system to mitigate heat and flooding on the Cumberland Plain, exploring the challenges for NSW coastal ICOLLS (intermittently closed and open lakes or lagoons) faced with the impacts of urbanisation and climate change; and mapping and making stories to support a catchment-wide collaborative governance approach  to water health in the Richmond River catchment, Northern Rivers NSW.

Penny has received seven national research and planning awards, most recently the AILA National Award of Excellence for two short films, shown at the 2021 Venice Biennale, about climate change in Australia — ‘Living with Fire’ and the ‘Value of Water’.