Scott Hawken

Dr Scott Hawken

Director Landscape Architecture

School of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Dr. Scott Hawken is a Landscape Architect, Urban Designer, and Landscape Archaeologist and his research and teaching bring together these three disciplines in creative ways. He is a strong supporter of the kind of transdisciplinary thinking necessary to tackle the large problems of our time. Scott is the director of the Landscape Architecture and Urban Design program in the School of Architecture and Built Environment. He works across the architecture and landscape architecture programs in the school and convenes postgraduate courses in Landscape Architecture, Architecture and Urban Design.

Scott is a national leader on biodiversity and landscape architecture, working with government and professional agencies to further biodiversity positive design. He is chair of AILA's National Biodiversity Positive Working Group and a strong advocate for creative design and planning that addresses the biodiversity crisis. He has recently led projects that bring together global knowledge on rapid urban greening to help turnaround biodiversity loss in Adelaide and other cities.

Scott is a world authority on the landscape systems of Angkor, the largest city in the preindustrial world. He has presented his work on the BBC and National Geographic documentaries speaking on his research in the field. His archaeological academic background is backed up with extensive field expertise in mainland and peninsula Southeast Asia. He has published invited papers in eminent special issues and volumes including the recent “The Angkorian World” Routledge Volume. He is currently editing a special issue for the leading journal "Urban Studies". The special issue synthesizes Archaeology and Urban Planning and Design. He is further developing this line of inquiry relating it to contemporary questions of patch urbanism and low-density urban landscapes using a mix of methods including advanced geospatial approaches and patch and network analytics. His Ph.D., awarded in 2012, involved the mapping of over 20,000km of archaeological features from 1000 sq km of remote sensing imagery to gain new insights into the evolution and ecology of archaeological landscapes and green infrastructure within Southeast Asia, It generated new knowledge on the socio-economic and ecological adaptation strategies of Angkor, the world’s largest pre-modern city. Such insights advance understanding of green infrastructure and social-ecological change in a long-term context which is important for today’s societies and their adaptation to climate change and urbanization. The findings are highly significant in the context of the sustainability and durability of socio-ecological systems within megacities.

As a result of his expertise on urban development, Southeast Asia and megaprojects, Scott was invited to consult with the United National’s High Commissioner for Human Rights in Kuala Lumpur and this resulted in UN policy documents and peer reviewed publications published in Q1 journals “Cities” and “Sustainable Cities and Society”. Theoretically, Dr. Hawken's research spans critical urban scholarship, radical political ecology, and landscape archaeology. Methodologically he makes use of high-end geospatial technologies including GIS, remote sensing, Geodesign, and on-the-ground survey to enable the integration of “big data” into real-world applications. His work on smart cities theory seeks to identify how digital technologies are changing cities. He is currently on the editorial board for Environment and Urbanisation ASIA and the Journal for Knowledge Based Development and reviews for many high-profile journals.

His courses typically engage with both local and international public and private agencies around the world. He has led international workshops in New York, Japan, Delhi, Chennai, Madrid, Bilbao, Venice, Berlin, and Cape Town for postgraduate students, professionals, and governments. He has worked at UNSW Sydney as part of the Urban Development and Design Program for nine years and prior to that, he worked with leading landscape and urban design practices such as Jane Irwin Landscape Architecture, Room 413, and Terragram as well as the NSW Govt Architect. He has worked on various significant masterplans and projects such as landscape masterplans for Sydney Olympic Park, Parramatta Park, the Sydney Green Grid, Barangaroo, and Sydney's Circular Quay. He has been invited to juries for major urban design awards including for the annual Australian Urban Design Awards from 2020-2022.

Scott led the Smart Cities Research Cluster at UNSW for many years and during this time chaired various international and national symposiums on this theme and edited a special issue on Smart Cities and a volume on Collaborative Cities in the Information Era which critically addressed how cities can grapple with the massive increase in data for the benefit of the city and its citizens. Based on his expertise with smart cities and digital transformation and design 2023 Scott was invited to give a keynote address to the Japanese Society of Landscape Architects in 2023 and regularly lectures on this topic.

Scott is a passionate and innovative teacher and is currently interested in supervising Ph.D. students in the areas of cultural landscapes, landscape archaeology, urban design, smart cities, and green and blue infrastructure. He is available for media appearances and can be contacted by email.

  • Scheme: GREEN ADELAIDE GRASS ROOTS GRANTS
  • Funding agency: GREEN ADELAIDE, DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND WATER
  • Grant name: Glenthorne National Park Grassland
  • Start date: 2022
  • CI: McQuillan, Hawken, Koc
  • Amount: total project funding $75,000
  • Scheme: AUSTRALIA-JAPAN FOUNDATION GRANTS PROGRAM
  • Funding agency: DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE
  • Grant name: Miyawaki Miniforests and Smart Green Networks
  • Start date: 2021
  • Grant number: AJF2021022
  • CI: Hawken, Asahiro, Tani, Delaporte, Court
  • Amount: total project funding $25,000
  • Scheme: AUSTRALIA-JAPAN FOUNDATION GRANTS PROGRAM
  • Funding agency: DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE
  • Grant name: Beyond Industry 4.0: digital fabrication and design in timber
  • Start date: 2018
  • Grant number: AJF2018027
  • CI: Hawken, Iwamoto,
  • Amount: total project funding $25,000
  • Scheme: AUSTRALIA-KOREA FOUNDATION GRANTS PROGRAM
  • Funding agency: DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE
  • Grant name: Making Cities Safer For Women and Children With Smart Technology
  • Start date: 2018
  • Grant number: AKF2018063
  • CI: Hawken, Han
  • Amount: total project funding $20,000
  • Scheme: UNSW-TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH FUND - SEED GRANTS
  • Funding agency: UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
  • Grant name: knowledge exchange on data augmented design for sustainable cities
  • UNSW Grant number: RG180121
  • Start date: 1 March 2018
  • Lead CI: Hawken and Long
  • Amount: total project funding $30,000
  • Scheme: SJTU-UNSW COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH FUND - SEED GRANT
  • Funding agency: UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
  • Grant name: joint research on urban eco-planning for green infrastructure and sponge city
  • UNSW Grant number: RG173401
  • Start date: 1 January 2018
  • Lead CIs: Hawken and Che
  • Amount: total project funding $25,000
  • Scheme: Geodesign - Liverpool Collaboration Area
  • Funding agency: Planning and Environment NSW
  • Grant name: Contract Research
  • UNSW Grant number: RG172579/
  • Start date: 30-Aug-2017 - 15-Dec-2017
  • CI: Pettit, Ticzon, Afrooz, Leao, Hawken
  • Amount: total project funding $50,027
  • Scheme: Developing a framework for collaborative multi-agency scenario planning
  • Funding agency: SYDNEY WATER CORPORATION
  • Grant name: Contract Research
  • UNSW Grant number: RG161897
  • Start date: 16-May-2016 - 30-Sep-2016
  • CI: Pettit, Hawken, Lieske, Ticzon, Afrooz, Leao,
  • Amount: total project funding $60,000
  • Scheme: AUSTRALIA-KOREA FOUNDATION GRANTS PROGRAM
  • Funding agency: DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE
  • Grant name: open innovation workshop for korea-australia smart cities service trade
  • UNSW Grant number: RG151618
  • Start date: 3 August 2015
  • Funder reference number: AKF2015GRANT0134
  • CI: Han and Hawken
  • Amount: total project funding $15,000 + 25,000 in industry contributions
  • Scheme: IAN POTTER CULTURAL TRUST TRAVEL GRANTS
  • Funding agency: IAN POTTER FOUNDATION
  • Grant name: the economic foundations of angkor: the economic landscape, grama work units, and the temple economy.
  • Lead CI: Hawken
  • Amount: total project funding $3,000
  • Scheme: Endeavour Research Fellowship
  • Funder: Austraining International
  • Date: 2007-2008
  • Grant name: Metropolis of Ricefields
  • Amount: $25,000
  • Scheme: Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship
  • Funder: Marten Bequest
  • Category: Architecture - For Talented Australians in the Arts          
  • Date: 2007-2008
  • Grant name: Landscape Archaeology of Angkor
  • Amount: $20,000
  • Scheme: Carlyle Greenwell Bequest For Archaeological Studies
  • Funder: Sydney University
  • Date: 2006, 2009
  • Amount: $6,000
  • Scheme: Frank Coaldrake Scholarship
  • Funder: Sydney University Grants in Aid
  • For East Asian and Melanesian Studies
  • Date: 2009
  • Amount: $2,400
  •  
  • Scheme: Postgraduate Research Support Scheme
  • Category: Archaeology
  • Date: 2006 – 2009
  • Amount: $33,000 p.a

I teach postgraduate courses across the Landscape Architecture, Architecture, Urban Design and Planning Programs at the University of Adelaide. Courses taught include:

LARCH7032 Advanced Ecology for Landscape Architects

  • Convenor and lecturer
  • An annual postgraduate theory and technical course with 20-70 students
  • Advanced Ecology guides students to explore and demonstrate an understanding of the importance of ecological principles in planting design, hydrology, habitat restoration, planting installation, and maintenance for sustainable and healthy landscapes. Advanced Ecology students will gain first-hand experience in growing, maintaining, planting, and identifying plants in collaboration with specialists in both landscape architecture and horticulture. 
  • This course encourages a creative and sustainable approach to planting design based on a deep understanding of ecology. Creative and clear representational methods are developed to communicate a range of aesthetic and ecological values such as planting community structures, plant forms, and textures. Products developed within the course include a planting concept and planting set-out plan.
  • By creating an open dialogue with horticultural and conservation disciplines and a range of leading landscape architecture practitioners, students have the opportunity to gain a practical and holistic understanding of the horticultural process in landscape architectural projects. Further students are supported to develop their own ethical and philosophical approach to ecology and planting design based on the relationships between living things, constructed and natural environments, and place. 

LARCH7033 Final Landscape Architecture Project

  • Convenor and lecturer
  • An annual postgraduate design studio course with 20-70 students
  • This is the capstone design studio of the Masters of Landscape Architecture degree. This means that students must integrate all that they have learned to showcase the student's mastery of the discipline of Landscape Architecture. The course is designed to engage with current topics in landscape architecture. Within the annual course theme, there is scope to develop a specialization in an area of individual interest.
  • This past year the course focused on "Food and the City".  As the culmination of the master's program, the project should aim to demonstrate a practical yet critical engagement with aspects of urbanism, design research, history, civil engineering principles, theory, culture, technology, horticulture, and ecology developed in the previous part of the program. Accordingly, the design project needs to be accompanied by a theoretical exegesis that discusses the relevance of the proposed design to contemporary landscape architectural developments and debates.

ARCH7034 Studio Urbanism

  • Convenor and lecturer
  • An annual postgraduate design studio course with 90-100 students
  • This is a studio course interrogating theories and practices of urban design. Students are guided in developing an urban design project demonstrating an understanding of the interconnected technical, social, and cultural influences upon urban projects considered at the scale of the city. Projects may be located within, but are not limited to, Adelaide. Following examinations of a chosen site, students must identify and pursue their own projects in response to site-specific issues. These are related to issues of international significance, treating the specific context as a laboratory for testing ideas against understandings of global urban conditions, infrastructure, and city development.

LARCH7028 Studio Cultures Landscape Architecture

  • Convenor and lecturer
  • An annual postgraduate design studio course with 20-70 students
  • Studio Cultures is the introductory course for the Masters of Landscape Architecture. The course is a design studio that focuses on issues of cultural sensibility and critical self-reflection in the landscape architecture design process.
  • The studio project engages and compare different cultural, historical, political, social, environmental, engineering, and technological approaches to develop appropriately sensitive and responsive designs.
  • The studio aims to create awareness and critical perspectives arising from cross-cultural encounters and collaboration within a multi-disciplinary design team and the multi-cultural student cohort. Students will be given opportunities to develop a range of landscape design skills and then apply these to encourage reflection on their own increasingly cosmopolitan cultural contexts.

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2022 Principal Supervisor Designing authentic ecologies to address the biodiversity crises: Grasslands as designed landscapes Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Maximilian Dirk McQuillan
    2022 Co-Supervisor Assessing the potential of urban voids for increasing landscape connectivity in Adelaide, Australia Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Jian Cui

  • Other Supervision Activities
    Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
    2022 - ongoing Co-Supervisor History Simulation and Agency: playing the past in medieval Cambodia Monash PhD Doctorate Full Time Michael Yeats
    2017 - 2022 Co-Supervisor Understanding Community’s Perspectives: Building Resilience in Urban Settlements. The case of kampung in Surabaya, Indonesia University of New South Wales City Planning Doctorate Full Time Shirleyana
    2016 - 2018 Co-Supervisor A Comprehensive Analysis of the Challenges and Opportunities of the 100 Smart Cities Mission in India UNSW Sydney City Planning Doctorate Full Time Praharaj, Sarbeswar
    2015 - 2018 Co-Supervisor The adaptive reuse of industrial heritage as cultural clusters in China : a case study in Chongqing UNSW Sydney Urban Design Doctorate Full Time Chen, Jie
    2015 - 2018 Co-Supervisor Sustainability, Culture and Progress: Lessons from Vernacular Architecture UNSW Sydney Architecture Doctorate Full Time Li, Mengbi
  • Position: Director Landscape Architecture
  • Phone: 83133507
  • Email: scott.hawken@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Barr Smith South, floor 5
  • Org Unit: Architecture and Landscape Architecture
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