Dr Elisa Palazzo

Dr Palazzo has a broad international experience in both academia and the profession. Currently senior lecturer at UNSW Sydney, her Ph.D. in urban design, regional and environmental planning examined the role of landscape architecture in urban design to achieve more resilient and environmentally sound cities.

She has been teaching in several universities in Italy and China (Pisa and Florence universities, Tsinghua Beijing) besides Australia, in the field of landscape architecture, urban design and environmental planning.

Her research work focuses on regenerative, adaptive and transdisciplinary strategies to address environmental change, specifically exploring the role of bio-cultural diversity in the regeneration of urban and rural cultural landscapes.

Dr Palazzo is a registered landscape planner, architect and urbanist with over 20 year experience in large scale award winning public projects and plans, carried out for government and international organisations. She has collaborated with the most renowned landscape design institutes on the contemporary scene such as Turenscape, L&A and THUPDI in China.

In her professional practice she has developed several regeneration projects within heritage-listed urban sites and rural landscapes across Europe, the Middle East, China and Australia. Her role of International Expert and Scientific Coordinator of the UNESCO Bethlehem Area Management Plan led to the World Heritage nomination of two sites in Palestine in 2012 and 2014, including a viticultural landscape. 

In Australia she was involved with the Mt Lofty Ranges cultural landscape heritage bid in South Australia and the cultural landscape mapping of the Hunter Valley in NSW.

She is the co-convenor of the Australia ICOMOS NSC CLCR (National Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes and Cultural Routes) and co-author of the recently endorsed Burra Charter Practice Note on Cultural Landscapes.