Associate Professor Amelia Thorpe

Amelia Thorpe is Associate Professor and Director of Postgraduate Studies in Law. Amelia works in planning, property and environmental law, with an emphasis on social and environmental justice. Her approach is sociolegal and interdisciplinary, drawing on professional experience in planning and urban development 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 Office of Road Safety.

Amelia is the author of Owning the Street: The Everyday Life of Property (MIT Press, 2020) and articles in journals including Journal of Law & Society, Law & Society Review, Social & Legal Studies, Planning Theory & Practice and Urban Studies. Her essays and commentary have appeared in The Conversation, Griffith Review, The Guardian and The Sydney Morning Herald, among other venues. Some of Amelia’s publications can be downloaded freely at: http://ssrn.com/author=2832516 and reviews of Owning the Street can be found in Contemporary Sociology; Emotion, Space & Society; Journal of Sociology; Landscape Journal; Legalities; and Planning Theory.

Amelia 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. She also serves on the City of Sydney Local Planning Panel and the board of Shelter NSW, and was founding co-chair of the PIA NSW Women in Planning Network, leading the development of Australia’s first national gender equity policy for the planning profession. Amelia has also served on numerous bodies focused on inclusion and diversity at UNSW, including as co-chair of the UNSW Women in Research Network, chair of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee in Law and Deputy Academic Lead of Athena Swan.

Amelia joined UNSW Law in 2012, having worked previously as a director at the Environmental Defender’s Office, Australia’s largest and oldest public interest environmental law organisation. Amelia led the EDO’s legal outreach programs, including indigenous and community engagement in NSW and a capacity-building program for environmental law in the Pacific region, working primarily on climate change at national and international levels.

Before Law Amelia studied Architecture and City Policy, and worked for the planning, transport and housing departments in Western Australia. This included the award-winning TravelSmart and Liveable Neighbourhoods programs, as well as New Metro Rail, then the largest infrastructure project ever undertaken in the state, and Dialogue with the City, a deliberative planning process involving more than 1,000 people. A particular interest in the policy and regulatory aspects of urban development led her to study law. Amelia completed law degrees at the University of Oxford and at Harvard Law School and, later, a PhD at ANU.

Amelia has three young children and works part time.