Alexa Gower

Alexa is currently researching how the Covid-19 restrictions and future shutdowns may reshape Melbourne’s urban form, focusing on implications for 20 minute neighbourhoods, housing and design. This research forms part of The Melbourne City Experiment, a landmark Monash University research initiative investigating the effects of the Covid-19 shutdown.

Alexa recently completed her PhD at RMIT on high density housing regulations and the functions and limitations of planning tools to improve design quality in policy and in practice. Her thesis tested apartments in Melbourne and London to better understand the impact housing regulations had on improving resident’s liveability. This was complemented by a qualitative inquiry into the power and politics that shaped Melbourne’s housing regulation policy, that together produced a nuanced evaluation of the complex role and limitations for high density housing regulations.