Join expert urbanist Diana Griffiths, UNSW Professor of Planning Susan Thompson, and USyd urbanist Dr Vera Xia to experience Cabramatta in Sydney’s west. We will explore the rich culinary landscape, its heritage and history and the broader neighbourhood context.
Note: Numbers are strictly limited, so book early to avoid disappointment. Meeting point to be provided following registration
Tour leads
Diana Griffiths, Director, Studio GL
Professor Susan Thompson, School of Built Environment, UNSW
Dr Vera Xia, Lecturer, School of Deisgn and Planning, University of Sydney
Diana Griffiths is a founding director of Studio GL and an award winning urban designer with over 30 years of professional experience in urban design, strategic planning and architecture, providing urban design services in the UK, NZ and Australia.
Susan Thompson is Professor of Planning, School of the Built Environment, and inaugural Life Fellow, City Futures Research Centre, Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture, UNSW Sydney. Susan’s research, teaching and scholarship focuses on the relationship between people and place, building understandings about the ways in which places can best support diverse communities. Susan is one of the first urban planners in Australia to advocate for the importance of healthy built environments and has made significant contributions to policy, education and research in this transdisciplinary field. In 2015 Susan was awarded the Sidney Luker Memorial Medal for her contribution to progressing healthy planning. Read more about Susan's work, including publications here: https://www.unsw.edu.au/staff/susan-thompson
Vera Xia is a Design and Urban Technology Lecturer in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney. She has a PhD in urban and regional planning and expertise in various urban technologies such as smart street furniture, social fitness apps, light festivals, and smart greenhouse technologies. Her PhD research, titled 'Smart Technologies, Loneliness and Young Adults: Towards an Understanding of the People-Place Relationship in Urban Open Space,' focuses on the use of smart technology in urban open spaces and its impacts on social wellbeing, particularly for young adults.
Apart from her research, Vera is also a creative and visual storyteller. Her film "(un)habitable circulation," created for The Festival of 'Endangered' Urbanism 2021, encourages the audience to reconsider the liveability of transit and the rhythms of our daily lives during and after the pandemic. With prior professional experience in strategic planning and urban design in both private and public sectors, Vera is committed to researching and creating sustainable and equitable cities through her teaching and research activities.