Urban & Regional Planning

Chris Donnelly

Young Planners

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April Newsletter

Talented urban and regional planner Chris graduates from Curtin

Mr Donnelly graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Urban and Regional Planning) with first class honours.

Curtin Executive Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Professor David Wood said Mr Donnelly was head-hunted by the City of Gosnells when he was beginning the third year of his four year degree.
"They were so keen to have Chris on the staff that he was able to work casually at the City of Gosnells for more than two years while he completed his degree full-time," Professor Wood said.

"Curtin is very proud to offer the only courses in WA accredited by the Planning Institute of Australia ensuring our graduates are job-ready," he said.

"We are pleased our graduates are snapped up by employers into rewarding and well paid positions in the government and private sectors," Professor Wood said.

"Mr Donnelly was a hard working high achieving student - evident in the fact that he graduated with first class honours and was on the Vice-Chancellor's list six times," he said.
The VC's List was created in 1991 to recognise Curtin undergraduate students, including Honours students, who excel academically. Membership to the List is granted at the completion of each semester to the top one per cent of undergraduates from across the University.
Mr Donnelly said he is relishing his new job.

"I am really enjoying the opportunities in my job as a planner with the City of Gosnells," Mr Donnelly said.

"Working as part of the innovative City Planning team at Gosnells is helping me to put the theories and principles I learned at Curtin into practice."

Professor Wood said that a career in urban and regional planning is the way to go.

"WA employers are crying out for qualified planners to keep up with the record demand for housing - a spinoff of our booming economy," Professor Wood said.

I graduated from Curtin in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts in Urban and Regional Studies.

I then spent a year and half in a private Consultancy in Perth, dealing with a range of interesting planning projects throughout Western Australia.

My interest in Asia drove me to Hong Kong in 2000, where I have since been working with a Planning Consultancy in Mainland China, Hong Kong, India, the Maldives, Viet Nam, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Emily Owen

I have been fortunate enough to work with Governments, the private sector, and Development Agencies in Asia, and develop my expertise in land use planning, master planning, strategy and regional planning.

I am currently working on a the Heng Sha Island (50km2) Eco-Tourism Master Planning Project in Shanghai, a project where the Government is trying to re-establish a natural ecosystem over 80% of the island. Most recently I have also been able to go to in India to meet with stakeholders from Government leaders through to slum dwellers to discuss the relationship between sustainable urban development and poverty reduction.

Working in Asia presents many challenges that I would never have even imagined in Australia, such as mass resettlement, urban migration, mass inequality in wealth and environmental degradation. The rewards however are immense, as I have the opportunity to experience and contribute to urbanization in full force, a phenomenon that is changing the face of Asia.