EXPERTISE

Sustainable urban development; globalisation of suburbia; urban design theory; the city in entertainment media; urban planning in Latin America; statutory planning (development controls).


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Rafael Pizarro has a PhD from the University of Southern California, a Master in Environmental Planning from Arizona State University, a professional degree in Architecture from the Javeriana University (Colombia), and several years of experience in a combination of teaching, research, and professional practice in the areas of architecture, urban design, and city planning in the United States, Colombia, and Australia. Dr Pizarro research interests relate to the connection between urban images in entertainment media and the development of cities. His book-in-progress Suburbanising the Mind: Hollywood and the Globalisation of American Suburbia deals with the worldwide spread of American-type suburbia and the role of urban images in American entertainment media in such diffusion. Dr Pizarro’s other research relates to the environmental crisis triggered by climate change and the role of urban design guidelines, development controls and planning policy in ameliorating and adapting to this crisis. Dr Pizarro was appointed to the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning in 2005 but has previously taught at various universities in his native Colombia, South America, and at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He has also been an architect in Bogotá, Colombia, and a City Planner for the City of Phoenix Planning Department (Arizona, USA). Currently, Dr Pizarro teaches postgraduate courses in urban design and development controls, sustainable urban environments, designing in the public domain, advanced urban design/planning studios and architectural design studios. In his urban design/planning studios, he teaches planners and designers how to use media technologies (video, sound recording, digital photography) to document urban phenomena and to illustrate urban design and planning projects. He is a member of the National City & Regional Planning Research Group on Climate Change (NatClim), the United States Studies Centre and of the Rural Focus Group at the University of Sydney. He is also in the Editorial Board of the journal Aguaita (the quarterly multidisciplinary journal of the Observatorio del Caribe Colombiano www.ocaribe.org) and occasional reviewer for the Architectural Science Review. He has been a Research Associate for the Center of Economic Development at the University of Southern California and for the Gateway Cities Partnership in Los Angeles. He also founded of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities Doctoral Student Network (APRU/DSN) in 2000.

PUBLICATIONS

Pizarro, Rafael E., Edward J. Blakely, and John Dee. 2006. “Urban Planning and Policy Faces Climate Change.” Built Environment. Volume 32, No 4. pp 400-412.

Pizarro, Rafael E. 2006. “From Disney Imagineering to a Sustainable Sydney Urban Imaginarium: Do urban images in Hollywood entertainment media influence Sydneysiders’ preference for low-rise low-density single-family home suburbs?” (pp.135-144) in Edward Blakely (ed.) Dialogues in Planning. University of Sydney Planning Research Centre.

Dissertation Abstract. 2006. The Suburbanization of the Mind: Hollywood Urban Imaginarium and the Rise of American Suburbia in the Colombian Caribbean. Journal of Planning Literature. Vol 21, No. 2, pp 184-243.

Review of Wheeler, Stephens and Timothy Beatley. 2004. The Sustainable Urban Planning Reader. New York: Routledge. Journal of the American Planning Association. Autumn 2006. Vol. 72, No. 4, pp. 516-517.

Pizarro, Rafael E., Liang Wei, and Tridib Banerjee. 2003 (November). “Agencies of Globalization and Third World Urban Form: A Review.” Journal of Planning Literature. Vol. 18, No 2, pp. 111-130.

Heikkila, Eric and Rafael Pizarro (eds.). 2002. Southern California and the World. New York, NY: Praeger.

Pizarro, Rafael. 2002. “Exporting the Dream: Hollywood Cinema and Latin American Suburbia,” in Eric Heikkila and Rafael Pizarro (eds.) Southern California and the World. New York, NY: Praeger.

Review of Moore, Niamh and Mark Scott (Eds.). 2005. Renewing Urban Communities: Environment, Citizenship and Sustainability in Ireland. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate. The Australian Planner (forthcoming 2008).

Review of Bruegmann, Robert. 2005. Sprawl: A Compact History. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. The Australian Planner (forthcoming 2008).

FUNDED RESEARCH

Teaching Improvement Fund, University of Sydney. Project: Improving the Induction and Integration of Research Students into the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning (with Duangfang Lu, Densil Cabrera, Glen Hill, and John Gero). AUD$10,000.00

Haynes Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, University of Southern California, 2001-2002. US$16,000

Thesis Research Grant. Arizona State University, 1994. US$1200

REFEREED CONFERENCE PAPERS

Pizarro, Rafael. “Suburbia and Climate Change: How will the Sprawling Suburb Respond to Climate Change.” Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP), Naples, Italy, July 2007.

Pizarro, Rafael. “Climate Change, Cities and Urban Planning.” Round Table Organizer. Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP), Naples, Italy, July 2007.

Pizarro, Rafael. “Between the Colombian Compact City and the American Sprawled Suburb: New Urban Form for Latino/Latin American Neighborhoods?” Second World Planning Schools Congress (WPSC). México City, July 2006.

Pizarro, Rafael (paper co-authored with Edward Blakely and John Dee). “Climate Change: Exploring the Literature and Research Opportunities” Australia-New Zealand Association of Planning Schools (ANZAPS) Conference, Adelaide, Australia, 2005.

Pizarro, Rafael. “Does Planning for Slum Communities in Developing Countries Matter?: Sustainable Urban Design Studio Projects as Catalysts for Development in Two Colombian Fishing Villages.” Union of International Architects Congress, People Building Better Cities Workshop, Istanbul, Turkey, July 2005.

Pizarro, Rafael. “The Suburbanization of the Mind: The Hollywood Urban Imaginarium and the Rise of American Suburbia in the Colombian Caribbean.” Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) Annual Conference, Kansas City, USA, October 2005.

Pizarro, Rafael (paper co-authored with Tridib Banerjee and Liang Wei) “Globalization and Third World Urban Form: Toward a Critical Framework”. Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) Annual Conference, Cleveland, USA 2001.

Pizarro, Rafael. “Third World Theory and Cinematic Los Angeles.” Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) Annual Conference, Chicago, USA, 1999.

Pizarro, Rafael. “Exporting the Dream: American Suburbs in Latin America and the Role of American Cinema.” Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) Annual Conference, Fort Lauderdale, USA, 1997.

COURSES OF INSTRUCTION:

Urban Design and Development Control (PLAN9051 Postgraduate)
Urban Environment (PLAN9065 Postgraduate)
EcoCity Design Studio
The Open Studio (ARCH5201 Undergraduate) 5th Year Architectural Design Studio
Planning for the Public Domain (DESP2001 Undergraduate)
The Global Studio (undergraduate/postgraduate) Global Studio
Multidisciplinary Urban Design/Planning Studio (postgraduate)
Architectural Design Studio (ARCH4101 1st Year Undergraduate)