Robert joined UNSW in 1991 after six years with Design Collaborative, a Sydney planning, research and heritage consultancy. He held previous appointments in the NSW Department of Planning, Department of Geography at the University of Melbourne, and the Urban Research Program at the Australian National University. He is a council member of the International Planning History Society and President 2002-2006. Robert was elected a Fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia in 2005, the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia in 2008, and the Institute of Australian Geographers in 2009. At UNSW he was Head of the Planning Program from 2001-2004. Having served a term as Acting Associate Dean Research in 2007, he was ADR from August 2013 to February 2017.
He is author of Urban Nation, which provides the first national account of the historical impact of urban planning and design on the Australian landscape.
Flying into uncertainty: Western Sydney’s ‘aerotropolis’ poses more questions than answers, The Conversation, 23 March 2017.