Amelia Thorpe is Professor in Law. Amelia works in planning, property and environmental law, focusing on mobility and urban governance. Her approach is sociolegal and interdisciplinary, drawing on professional experience in planning and in public interest environmental law. Amelia has a particular interest in the governance of streets and is currently leading research on food delivery cyclists funded by the James Martin Institute for Public Policy.
Amelia has served on several boards and statutory bodies, including local and state planning and design review panels, the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority, Shelter NSW and the Planning Institute of Australia, for which she was founding co-chair of the PIA NSW Women in Planning Network and led the development of Australia’s first national gender equity policy for the planning profession. Amelia is an Acting Commissioner in the Land and Environment Court of NSW.
Amelia is the author of Owning the Street: The Everyday Life of Property (MIT Press, 2020), which is reviewed in Canadian Journal of Law & Jurisprudence, City & Community, Contemporary Sociology, Emotion, Space & Society, Journal of Sociology, Landscape Journal, Law & Social Inquiry, Legalities, Planning Theory and Town Planning Review. Amelia's essays and commentary have appeared in The Conversation, Griffith Review, The Guardian and The Sydney Morning Herald, among other venues. Some of her publications can be downloaded freely at: http://ssrn.com/author=2832516.
Amelia has held fellowships and visiting appointments at UC Berkeley, McGill and the Centre for Canadian Architecture, and her research has been funded by organisations including the Australian Research Council, Landcom/Urban Growth NSW, and the federal Office of Road Safety. She is co-editor of Australian Planner, the journal of record for the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA), and serves on the editorial board of Environmental & Planning Law Journal.
Amelia joined UNSW in 2012, having worked previously as a director at the Environmental Defender’s Office, Australia’s largest and oldest public interest environmental law organisation. Before Law Amelia studied Architecture and City Policy, and worked for the planning, transport and housing departments in Western Australia.
Amelia completed law degrees at the University of Oxford and at Harvard Law School and, later, a PhD at ANU.
My Grants
‘Mapping the Frontiers of Private Property in Australia’, Australian Research Council Discovery Project (with A Leach, D Rogers, L Troy and J Ludewig), 2024-2026, $453,240
‘Harnessing data for inclusive, efficient and resilient mobility’, James Martin Institute Policy Challenge Grant (with M Johnson), 2023-24, $100,000
‘Independent Advice on Action Plan Initiatives – Road Safety in Tasmania’, Department of State Growth (with M Johnson), 2023, $42,918
'Improving Safety for Bicycle Delivery Cyclists', Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, Road Safety Innovation Fund Round 2, 2021-2023 (with S Boufous and M Johnson), $227,450
‘Electric Vehicle and Grid - Assessment Opportunity’, Reliable, Affordable, Clean Energy for 2030 Collaborative Research Centre, 2020 (with R Dargaville, D Kuch, l Meegahapola, L McIntosh, P Newman, P Paevere, CSIRO and 16 industry partners) $526,000
'Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure – Risks and Opportunities in Urban and Electricity System Planning' Digital Grid Futures Institute, 2020, $25,000 (with D Kuch and N Sheffi)
'Paint, posts and productive polities: (re)constructing city-citizen relationships in the street', Centre for Canadian Architecture, Research Fellowship, 2020 (not taken due to Covid-19)
‘Creating the City we Want: Tackling the Barriers to Housing Diversity in NSW’, Collaborative Research Project, Landcom University Roundtable, 2018-2020, $153,510 (with G Reinmuth, B Jackson, H Scheule and A Lee, UTS, and L Crabtree and N Perry, WSU)
‘Urban renewal and the privatisation of public space: implications for democracy and equity’, Cross-Faculty Research Grant, 2018, $9,853 (with L McNamara, L Crommelin, A McGovern, C Martin, N Sheffi and P Wadds)
‘6th Fordham International and Comparative Urban Law Conference’ Law Workshop Support Scheme, 2018, $3,750 (with C Sherry)
'Planning, Parking and the Practice of Property', UNSW Law Research Fellowship, 2018 (in-kind, $25,000 equivalent)
‘Constituting Cities: Multi-disciplinary perspectives on the governance of urban spaces’ Law Workshop Support Scheme, 2017, $8,000 (with L McNamara)
‘Co-Producing Multi-Media Resources for Environmental Law’, UNSW Learning and Teaching Innovation Grant, 2014, $25,000 (with C Holley)
‘Reducing Corruption Risks in Climate Change’, United Nations Development Programme, 2010, US$24,000 (with L Ogle)
‘Negotiation Training for Multilateral Environmental Agreements’, Secretariat for the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, 2010, US$5,000
My Qualifications
BEnvDes BArch (Hons) UWA, BPolSt (City Policy) (Hons) Murdoch, BA (Jurisprudence) (Hons) Oxford, LLM, Harvard, PhD, ANU
My Awards
Australian Legal Research Awards, Honourable mention (book award), 2022
Socio Legal Studies Association (UK), History and Theory Prize, shortlisted, 2022
Centre for Canadian Architecture, Visting Fellowship, 2020 (not taken due to Covid)
People's Choice Award, UNSW Presidents Awards, 2017 (WiRN Executive Committee)
Legal Innovation Index (winner, individual category), 2016
Lawyers Weekly Women in Law Awards, Academic of the Year (finalist), 2016
Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence (early career), 2014
Australian and New Zealand Law and History Society prize, 2014
Distinguished Environmental Law Education Award (junior category), IUCN Academy, 2014
Salzburg Global Fellow, 2013
Future Thought Leader, HC Coombs Policy Forum, Australian National University, 2012
Saltonstall Scholarship, Harvard Law School, 2006
My Research Supervision
Supervision keywords
Currently supervising
Matthew Idiculla, constitutional law, city governance and urban planning (with Theunis Roux)
Yiru Tan, PhD, solar access and property rights in China (with John Page)
Amarnath Boopalam Manjunath, PhD, street vendors and urban spaces (with Christine Forster)
Amir Babalou, PhD, DIY urbanism and gentrification (with Laura Crommelin)
Alice Palithorpe, PhD, climate-related internal displacement in Australia (with Jane McAdam)
Tomas Alcaron, PhD, lawyers and the Australian climate movement (with Marc de Leeuw and Bronwen Morgan)
Jodie Hampson, PhD, co-operative platform economies (with Bronwen Morgan and Selena Griffith)
Oxana Wolfson, PhD, governance of water infrastructure (with Fleur Johns and Weihuan Zhou). Completed 2024.
Yutong Wang, MPH, food delivery cycling and the media (external supervisor for the University of Sydney, with James Kite). Completed 2021.
Costa Avgoustinos, PhD, climate change and constitutional law (with Ben Golder and Gabrielle Appleby). Completed 2020.
My Engagement
Memberships and professional affiliations
Research network on Utopian Legalities, Radical Governance and Prefigurative Politics
Women in Planning Network, PIA NSW
City of Sydney, Local Planning Panel
Planning Institute of Australia
Sydney Urbanistas
Association of Law, Property and Society
International Academic Association of Planning, Law and Property Rights
Institute of Australian Geographers, Legal geography study group
Australian and New Zealand Law and History Society
IUCN Commission on Environmental Law
New York Bar, attorney
Editorial roles
Australian Planner, Editorial Board member, 2014-2021, Co-editor, 2022 -
Journal of Law and Society, Guest Editor (with Bronwen Morgan), Spring 2018
Environmental and Planning Law Journal, Editorial Board member, 2015 -
Harvard Environmental Law Review, Casenote Editor, 2006 - 2007
Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal, Associate Editor, 2005 - 2006
My Teaching
Amelia's teaching has been recognized with a Distinguished Environmental Law Education Award from the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law, a UNSW Vice-Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence, and a Lexis Nexis Legal Innovation Award.
Courses taught
Cities, Planning, Law and Justice (LAWS3073)
Land and Environment Court Clinic (LAWS3302)
Land Law (LAWS2383)
Development and Planning Law (LAWS8071)
Food Law (LAWS3216)
Principles of Private Law (LAWS1150)
Climate Law (LAWS8066)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0474-6286