My Expertise
Christine's expertise lies in people and place theory, specifically how place is manifested on a university campus--the crux of her PhD thesis and subsequent years of follow-up research that delved into the student experience. Extending the people and place framework to include a more complex setting, the city, numerous trips to Israel in the past five years complimented her research agenda to see her engaging with an emerging global city such as Tel Aviv and investigating smart city initiatives that won them the World Smart City Award in 2014. Other research streams in Christine's profile include domestic and international research of regulation and geographies of the sex industry--a topic centred around contentious land uses in the urban and suburban environment.
Fields of Research (FoR)
Urban and Regional PlanningBiography
Dr Christine Steinmetz is a senior lecturer in City Planning at UNSW. Christine’s current research portfolio focuses primarily on smart cities. In 2018, she spent three months in Tel Aviv working with the Tel Aviv Foundation, researching how their smart city and citizen-led initiatives incorporate technology, to facilitate place. In the past two years, Christine, along with the Smart Social Spaces Team, from UNSW Sydney, have been awarded...view more
Dr Christine Steinmetz is a senior lecturer in City Planning at UNSW. Christine’s current research portfolio focuses primarily on smart cities. In 2018, she spent three months in Tel Aviv working with the Tel Aviv Foundation, researching how their smart city and citizen-led initiatives incorporate technology, to facilitate place. In the past two years, Christine, along with the Smart Social Spaces Team, from UNSW Sydney, have been awarded over 1.5 million AUD from Australian Commonwealth Departments of Prime Minister & Cabinet and Industry, Innovation and Science.
Christine’s previous research saw her being internationally recognised and awarded for her research on adult entertainment venues and the planning and regulation, global best-practises, and significant commercial contribution they can bring to a night time economy. Her co-edited book, (sub)Urban Sexscapes: Geographies and Regulation of the Sex Industry (2015) covers many of these topics and was awarded at a state and national level for cutting edge research. Recently she was awarded the UNSW Cité Internationale des Artes to study in Paris for three months where she continued work on contentious land uses (adult entertainment venues) in the urban environment. In 2016, she was awarded a three- month placement as a Visiting Professor at the University of Santiago, Chile. Whist consulting with the Director or Research as part of her visiting role, she also undertook a study that mapped the café con piernas in the Santiago Metropolitan area.
Christine is a tenured academic member of staff in the Bachelor of City Planning program in the Faculty of Built Environment, University of New South Wales Sydney. Her current course profile consists of teaching Introductory to Planning (1st year), Research Design (4th year) and Honours Thesis Project (4th year).
Christine currently supervises PhD and Master's by Research Candidates.
My Grants
UNSW High Value Data Collection Grant, UNSW 2019 ($15000)
ChillOUT: Smart Social Spaces Creating Connected Green Places, Smart Cities and Suburbs Grant Program Round 2, Australian Commonwealth Departments of Prime Minister & Cabinet and Industry, Innovation and Science, 2018 ($879,338)
Smart Social Spaces: Smart Street Furniture Supporting Social Health, Chief Investigator, Australian Government, Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, 2017, ($657,742)
UNSW Cite Internationale des Artes Paris Studio, UNSW 2017 (three-month residency)
Research Start Scholarship, BE, UNSW 2015 ($2000)
Scholarship of Learning & Teaching Grant 2015 ($3000)
Early Career Researcher Grant, BE, 2011 ($9,044)
BE BIG Research Idea Grant, BE, UNSW 2011 ($5000)
Research Link Scholarship Program, BE, UNSW 2011 ($1500)
Research Link Scholarship Program, BE, UNSW 2011 ($1500)
Learning and Teaching Grant Seed Funding, UNSW 2010 ($3000)
Research Link Scholarship Program, BE, UNSW 2006, 2009, 2010 (3x$1000)
Australian Research Council Linkage Grant, Grant Manager, BE, UNSW (value $427, 630)
My Qualifications
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia 2009
Master of Science Education (MSc Ed) University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom 2004
Diploma in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Trinity College, Cambridge (UK), Barcelona, Spain, Europe 2001
Bachelor of Arts (BA) Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States 1995
My Awards
2016 National award for Excellence in Cutting Edge Research and Teaching from Planning Institute of Australia for (Sub)urban sexscapes: Geographies and regulation of the sex industry (Routledge 2015)
2015 Award for Excellence in Cutting Edge Research and Teaching from Planning Institute of Australia (WA) for (Sub)urban sexscapes: Geographies and regulation of the sex industry (Routledge 2015)
2013 International Award for Excellence, Space and Flows Journal (2013)
2012 Theo Murphy High Flyer’s Think Tank Award, Australian Academy of Science, Adelaide
2008 Wightman Post-Graduate Scholarship in Architecture, FBE, UNSW $10,000
My Research Activities
Christine's recent university sabbatical in 2018 was predominantly spent in Tel Aviv working with the Tel Aviv Foundation researching smart city initiatives underway in the Tel Aviv Municipality. As the Tel Viv Foundation Asia-Pacific Research Liaison, she actively promotes research collaborations and knowledge exchange with Tel Aviv Municipality and her global city network of colleagues.
Along with Nancy Marshall, Kate Bishop, Christian Tietz, Linda Corkery, Miles Park, Homa Rahmat and Susan Thompson, she currently shares the role as chief investigator on two Australian Government, Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, Department of the Prime Minister & Cabinet in the Smart Cities and Suburbs Program grants: Smart Social Spaces: Smart Street Furniture Supporting Social Health, 2017 ($657,742) and ChillOUT: Smart Social Spaces Creating Connected Green Places, 2018 ($879,338).
Prior research dealt mainly with studying land use, more specifically, the geographies and regulation of adult entertainment and commercial sex industries on a global scale. Of central concern are the potential impacts of and on surrounding urban environments, the role of various stakeholder groups, subcultural sex-on-premises venues and the regulatory framework that surrounds them. Christine continues work on contentious land uses in the urban environment. Her co-edited book, (sub) Urban Sexscapes: Geographies and Regulation of the Sex Industry (2015) covers many of these topics.
My Research Supervision
Supervision keywords
Areas of supervision
I am interested in supervising higher degree research students who are studying the following topics:
smart cities
Tel Aviv as a global city
university campus design for 2050
Adult premises on a global scale
Currently supervising
David Parker (PhD): Conceptualising Optionality in Property Investment
*Christina Papadopoulos (MRes): Contentious land-uses: Home occupation and the male sex worker
*Bo Song (PhD): The evolution of urban systems in the post-world economic crisis
*Ryan Van de Nouwelant (PhD): Land-use conflict and place identity: The case of Kings Cross
*Eveline Mussi (PhD): The socio-spatial legacy of Olympic projects
*Anne Warr (PhD): Women and the modern city: Shanghai 1930s
*Tracie Harvison (PhD): Universities and positive ageing: Emerging modes of engagement for an ageing society
*Jacqueline Power: (PhD): The question of Australian Indigenous spatial ordering
*Sarah Judd (MRes): Housing strategies, outcomes and trajectories of Chinese international students in Sydney
*Joseph Paonessa (MPhil): Integral art + architecture
My Engagement
In the Media
- http://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/art-architecture-design/urban-planning-and-sex-industry-research-wins-national-award
- https://theconversation.com/urban-farming-in-detroit-sowing-seeds-of-hop...
- https://theconversation.com/going-native-at-sexpo-with-the-australian-se...
- https://theconversation.com/sex-in-the-city-the-changing-face-of-adult-r...
Membership
- Director of Postgraduate Research, FBE (2010-present)
- Higher Degree Research Committee, UNSW (2010 to present)
- Higher Degree Research Committee, FBE, chair (2010 to present)
- Research Management Committee, member (2010 to present)
- Ethics Committee, FBE, member (2009 to 2012)
- Built Environment Learning and Teaching Advisory group (2009 to 2010)
- Group Facilitator for Learning and Teaching Portfolio of L+T Fellow/ADE, FBE (2008)
- Research Management Committee, Postgraduate Representative, FBE (2005-2008)
- Member of Urban and Cultural Studies Research Group, FBE (2005-2006)
- President of Postgraduate Research Council, FBE (2005-2006)
- International Student Representative for Australian Universities Quality Agency (AQUA) (UNSW) 2005
- Associate Editor for Spaces and Flows: An International Journal of Urban and ExtraUrban Studies (2013 volume)
Qualitative Research Network Hub (QRN Hub, UNSW), Advisory Panel (2017-present)
This research hub is based at the School of Public Health and Community Medicine (SPHCM). The QRN Hub builds on existing activities at SPHCM and as part of the steering committee, as a founding panel member, I and one of eight who advise and guide the development and ongoing work undertaken by the Hub.
Visiting Professor, Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, University of Chile (2016-2017)
This was a non-paid visiting professorship sponsored by the University of Chile, Santiago, Chile. I was working directly with, and advising the Associate Dean, Research, on their research directives for 2017 forward. This included a series of workshops presented to undergraduates, postgraduates and academics in the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism.
My Teaching
Christine has been teaching in the Bachelor of Planning program since 2009. Courses include: Planning Theory and Practice (first year), Local Planning (first year) Integrated Planning—Communication for Planners (2nd year) and Qualitative Research Methods (4th year).
Publications
ORCID as entered in ROS
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1570-7602