New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities

I graduated from Otago University in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Geography, with a minor in Economics. During this time I spent a semester on exchange at the University of Western Ontario in Canada and two-months volunteering at an Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre in Malaysian Borneo. The combination of my academic studies and variety of life experiences has enhanced my interest in the relationship between all aspects of the environment - namely social, cultural, economic and physical. I am currently a Master of Planning student at the University of Otago undertaking my thesis research and will graduate at the end of this year. I am looking forward to beginning my career utilising the skills I have been developing over the past years.

In terms of my research, I am interested in the management of sustainable local economic development, particularly in rapid urban growth areas. I am undertaking a case study of Tauranga city. I am paying specific attention to exploring the drivers of rapid urban and economic growth, understanding the role of institutions and people in encouraging, restricting and managing urban and economic growth, and how this process fits within the sustainable city concept.