Richard Tomlinson
Professional affiliation
Wilson Center Projects
Curating Knowledge of Metropolitan Governance
Knowledge of Metropolitan Governance in a Context of Big Data
Full Biography
Richard Tomlinson is a Professorial Fellow in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne and Visiting Professor in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Before going to Australia in 2009 he served as an urban policy consultant in Southern Africa and as an academic in South Africa and the USA. His clients included the post-apartheid South African government, The World Bank, USAID, UN HABITAT, NGOs and also the private sector. As an academic he has served as a Visiting Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand and at Columbia University, as a Visiting Scholar at MIT and a Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution. His most recent research and publications concern metropolitan governance, primarily in Australia; global urban policy processes; the effects of the Web on urban knowledge exchange; smart cities; and slum upgrading in Mumbai and Cape Town.
Richard Tomlinson
Professorial Fellow, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne; Visiting Professor, School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
“I have had the good fortune to spend time at four prestigious research institutions. None combined the warmth, helpfulness, and seriousness of purpose as does the Wilson Center. Then, after Covid-19 isolated me in the USA, the Wilson Center did more than could be hoped for in extending my period at the Center and assisting with my visa.”
Major Publications
- Tomlinson R. and M. Spiller (Eds.) 2018. Australia’s Metropolitan Imperative: An Agenda for Governance Reform, Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing.
- Tomlinson R., with A. Rizvi, R. Salinas, S. Garry, J. Pehr and F. Rodriguez. 2010. ‘The influence of Google on urban policy in developing countries’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. 34, 1, pp. 174-189.
- Tomlinson R. 2002. ‘International best practice, enabling frameworks and the policy process: a South African case study’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 26, 2, pp. 377 – 388.