New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities

Michelle's undergraduate degree was a double major in Planning and Geography. Once completed, she took up work in planning practice in New Zealand. She spent ten years with various local authorities in Taranaki and Auckland. The work involved research and the preparation of policy relating to such issues as land use strategies, social impact assessment, petrochemical development, iwi resource management, conservation, urban growth management and transportation, as well as project management of multidisciplinary studies.

In the mid 1990s Michelle moved to the UK to undertake doctoral studies in relation to urban landscape transformation. She completed a DPhil at the School of Geography, University of Oxford, in 1998. In March 1999 Michelle joined the staff of the Department of Geography at Otago.

Michelle's main areas of research interest lie in the exploration of contemporary approaches to planning and environmental management, in particular:

Innovations towards the sustainable management of urban form (with a focus on Britain, North America, Scandinavia and New Zealand), including developments in sustainable settlements and urban growth management; The interface between iwi and planning authority resource management processes and strategies; The efforts of local government in urban and regional development and regeneration in Britain, Denmark and New Zealand, and the implications with regard to governance and inclusivity.