action Research For urban transformation

Melbourne is home to global experts addressing many of our key challenges.

our SYSTEMS lab brings them together to shift the enabling conditions for urban regeneration.

The Systems Lab serves as a dedicated action-research platform that explores how to shift enabling conditions to facilitate place-based change. It aims to unlock conditions to accelerate impact across the Earthshots and at a whole-of-city scale.

The Systems Lab is organised around four action-research streams that are designed to interrogate and practically influence a set of underlying conditions in our city:

  • Measuring What Matters

  • New Urban Governance

  • Adaptive Futures

  • Investing in Transformation

Each of these action-research streams engages with multiple layers of the system, such as policy, media, research structures and finance. Our work aims to unlock conditions to accelerate impact across our Earthshots and at a whole-of-city scale.

The Systems Lab operates under the guidance of our Research Council, composed of senior representatives from across six Melbourne-based universities.

Associate Professor Magnus Moglia, Chair (Swinburne University)

Professor Sarah Bell (University of Melbourne)

Professor Jago Dodson (RMIT University)

Professor Dan Hill (University of Melbourne)

Associate Professor Elmira Jamei (Victoria University)

Professor Andi Nygaard (Swinburne University)

Professor Rob Raven (Monash University)

Professor Lauren Rickards (Latrobe University)

Dr Darren Sharp (Monash University)

Professor Andrea Siodmok OBE (RMIT University)

"Regen Melbourne is the sort of initiative that those who study climate change and other crises dream about – a bottom up but razor sharp effort to take stock, draw breath and turn the ship around."

Professor Lauren Rickards

Chair Climate Adaptation Lab, Latrobe University 

Background materials & resources