Jillian Walliss

Jillian Walliss researches the relationship between theory, culture and contemporary design practice. Her current focus is on two areas: digital technologies and their application in landscape architecture and evolving notions of civic in the twenty-first century.

Her interest in technologies was provoked by the challenge of embedding digital technology within design studio. Outcomes from this studio experience and accompanying research has been published in the Journal of Landscape Architecture, International Journal of Art & Design Education, presented at international conferences including the Digital Landscape Architecture Conference and CUMULUS: International Conference for Design Education Researchers and featured as a case study for the Studio Teaching Forum 2009: Enriching creative arts learning project.

More recently, in collaboration with Dr Heike Rahmann, this interest has expanded into an inquiry into the digital design practice of landscape architecture practice. Drawing on interviews and selected projects from a range of international designers and academics, the research explores digitally driven advancements and their effects on landscape architecture by grounding them in contemporary practice while offering speculation about their wider implications. Outcomes of this research will be published in the book Landscape Architecture and Digital Technologies in 2015 (Routledge).

Her research project Twenty-First Century Civic examines how civic space is conceived in an increasingly global design practice. In contrast to the well- documented ground of European and North America urban space, Twenty-First Century Civic focuses on emerging notions of civic space in global contexts, with current case studies being Sydney’s Barangaroo development and Beirut’s Solidere’s post war reconstruction. Earlier research focused on post-colonial transformation of national parks and national museums in Australia and New Zealand. This research has been published in prominent international journals including Space and Culture, Environment and History, Museum and Society, Journal of Landscape Architecture, Journal of Australian Studies and the edited books The Right to Landscape: Contesting Landscape and Human Rights and MESH BOOK Landscape/Infrastructure.

Jillian maintains a research interest in design teaching, and pedagogy. Since arriving at Melbourne University in 2007 she has been the Graduate Program Coordinator Masters of Landscape Architecture (2007-2012) and has taught landscape theory and design studio. She taught previously at the University of Tasmania, University of Adelaide, and Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand). Her teaching excellence has been recognised at both Faculty and University levels, including the University of Melbourne’s prestigious Edward Brown Award in 2011. In 2010 she was awarded at Universitas 21 Fellowship to explore the pedagogy of the first year of professional Masters Design Degrees internationally, which included visiting TU Delft, University of Virginia, the University of Edinburgh and ETH Zurich.