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Professor of Sustainability, Curtin University

Peter Newman is the Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University and works in CUSP which has 95 PhD students working on all aspects of the green economy. Peter has worked in local government as an elected councillor, an advisor to three WA State Premiers and was on the Board of Infrastructure Australia from 2010 to 2014. He was a Lead Author for Transport on the IPCC. He has written 17 books and 286 refereed articles. Peter’s book with Jeff Kenworthy 'Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence' was launched in the White House in 1999 and their most recent book is 'The End of Automobile Dependence'. In 2001-3 Peter directed the production of WA’s Sustainability Strategy in the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, the first state sustainability strategy in the world. In 2004-5 he was a Sustainability Commissioner in Sydney advising the government on planning issues. In 2006/7 he was a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the University of Virginia Charlottesville. In 2014 Peter was awarded an AO for contributions to urban design and sustainable transport, particularly related to the saving and rebuilding of Perth’s rail system.

Experience

  • –present
    Professor of Sustainability, Curtin University of Technology
  • 2006–2007
    Fulbright Senior Scholar, University of Virginia
  • 2004–2005
    Sustainability Commissioner, NSW State Government
  • 2001–2003
    Director, Sustainability Strategy, WA Dept of Premier and Cabinet

Education

  • 1973 
    University of Delft, Dip ES&T
  • 1972 
    University of Western Australia, PhD

Honours

Order of Australia, 2014. Sidney Luker medal for contribution to planning in Australia, 2011.