Professor Sarah Bekessy

Sarah Bekessy has been teaching in Sustainability and Urban Planning at RMIT University since 2004.

Sarah is interested in the intersection between science and policy in environmental management and is currently involved in an interdisciplinary range of research and consulting projects, including an ARC Future Fellowship titled ‘Socio-ecological models for environmental decision making’.

She leads a research theme under the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions that seeks to develop and test tools to support transparent decision-making for environmental management and she is a node leader in a National Environment Research Program for Environmental Decisions.

Sarah has funding from the Myer Foundation to undertake a project titled Reimagining the Suburb: Planning for biodiversity in the urban fringe. This project aims to improve prospects for grassland conservation within housing developments, and investigate urban development scenarios that mitigate impacts on existing grasslands. We are working with a range of sectors to ensure issues such as human health, housing affordability and transport are considered. Considering biodiversity in this context will make a stronger case for appropriate urban and peri-urban development and will target urban designers and developers.

Sarah also leads the Interdisciplinary Conservation Science research group.

Read more about Sarah.

Expert commentary on...

Threatened species management, Environmental decision analysis, Urban ecology, Population and landscape modelling, Education for sustainability, The role of science in environmental policy.

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Projects

Onsets not offsets for real biodiversity gains

2020–2022

This project will make conceptual and methodological advancements required to develop a working approach for onsets. Case studies in urban development and agriculture will highlight how the approach work s in practice.

Sustainable, biodiverse mid-rise development for Fishermans Bend

2015

Creating sustainable cities that are good for people and good for nature.

Improved Urban Systems for Liveability

2016–2021

This project investigates how major cities function and the effects of their land-use, housing and infrastructure systems on the humans that live in them.

Evaluating environment policy that has immediate costs but long-term gains

2016 (ongoing)

Evaluating environment policy that has immediate costs but long-term gains.

The Little Things that Run the City

2015–2017

How do Melbourne’s green spaces support insect biodiversity and promote ecosystem health?

News & Blog

Blog

It takes more than words and ambition: here’s why your city isn’t a lush, green oasis yet

07 July 2021

The idea of transforming cities from concrete jungles to urban forests is a popular one, and there have been some truly inspiring, exemplar projects in recent years. But has your city actually turned into a lush oasis yet? No, neither has ours.

News

Nature as medicine: can a dose of the outdoors cure loneliness?

29 March 2021

Can a dose of nature a day keep the doctor away? A new RMIT project is exploring the benefits of prescribing nature in Australia, Europe and Latin America to reduce loneliness and improve mental health.

News

How can we better prepare suburban Melbourne for climate change?

24 September 2020

Climate change presents critical challenges for future development, sustainability and resilience across Melbourne. Here, our experts offer insights on how we can better prepare our outer suburbs.

Blog

Where the wild things are: how nature might respond as coronavirus keeps humans indoors

08 April 2020

COVID-19 has taken a devastating toll on humanity, and this is nothing to be celebrated. But as Australians stay at home and our streets fall quiet, let’s consider how wildlife might respond.

Blog

Want to help save wildlife after the fires? You can do it in your own backyard

24 February 2020

Here we provide various practical tips on things people can do in their own backyards and neighbourhoods to help some of the species hit hard by the fires.

Blog

How should I vote if I care about preventing the extinction of nature?

17 May 2019

Some voters heading to the polls this weekend may be casting their ballot with biodiversity in mind, after a major UN report released last week highlighted the global extinction crisis facing more than a million species.

Blog

The small patch of bush over your back fence might be key to a species’ survival

13 December 2018

It may not look like a pristine expanse of Amazon rainforest, but the patch of bush at the end of the street could be one of the only places on the planet that has a particular species of endangered animal or plant.

News

Small habitats crucial to species survival: study

10 December 2018

Local patches of bushland play a much bigger role in conserving biodiversity and supporting the survival of endangered species than previously thought, according to new research.

Blog

Here’s how to design cities where people and nature can both flourish

24 October 2018

Aside from benefits for people, cities are often hotspots for threatened species and are justifiable locations for serious investment in nature conservation for its own sake.

News

Ask not what nature can do for you

09 August 2018

In our recent paper, we ponder whether the increasingly prevalent trend for framing nature in terms of ecosystem services is actually helping to build public engagement in conservation.

News

August 2018 edition of The Urban Observer out now

09 August 2018

With Australia’s population reaching 25 million this month, the liveability of our cities has become critically important for our national prosperity and sustainability.

Blog

Let’s get this straight, habitat loss is the number-one threat to Australia’s species

18 October 2017

Earlier this month, Australia’s outgoing Threatened Species Commissioner Gregory Andrews told ABC radio that land clearing is not the biggest threat to Australia’s wildlife. His claim caused a stir among Australia’s biodiversity scientists and conservation professionals, who have plenty of evidence to the contrary.

Publications

A transformative mission for prioritising nature in Australian cities

Niki Frantzeskaki, Cathy Oke, Guy Barnett, Professor Sarah Bekessy, Judy Bush, James Fitzsimons, Maria Ignatieva, Dave Kendal, Jonathan Kingsley, Dr Laura Mumaw, Alessandro Ossola

Ambio

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Projecting biodiversity benefits of conservation behavior-change programs

Dr Matthew Selinske, Professor Sarah Bekessy, William L Geary , Richard Faulkner , Fern Hames , Charlotte Fletcher , Zoe E Squires , Georgia E Garrard

Conservation Biology

View Publication