Julie Lawson

Dr Julie Lawson is Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University, and Director of Just Cities. She is an international housing policy researcher, urban planner and public policy analyst with more than 30 years’ experience working across Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa. Her research examines how land, finance, regulation and governance can be brought together to create affordable, inclusive and enduring housing systems.

Julie holds a PhD in Spatial Science from the University of Amsterdam, a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Policy from the University of Melbourne, and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Urban Planning with Distinction from RMIT University. Her career has encompassed urban planning, institutional development, academic and policy research, international cooperation and policy advice to national and regional governments and development banks.

Julie led the drafting of the landmark United Nations report #Housing2030: Effective Policies for Affordable Housing in the UNECE Region, produced by UNECE, UN-Habitat and Housing Europe. The report brings together international experience in housing governance, land policy, finance and climate-neutral construction and renovation. Her Australian research on financial intermediaries, government guarantees and social housing as infrastructure helped inform the establishment of the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation, now Housing Australia.

Her current and recent research includes Australia’s multi-provider social housing system for AHURI; land, finance and housing inequality through the EU Horizon EqualHouse project; and housing reform and recovery in Ukraine through the EU STARTER initiative. Since 2022, Julie has worked with Ukrainian researchers, government institutions and international partners on needs-based investment, social and rental housing reform, and the governance of long-term recovery. She also initiated the European Network for Housing Research working group on Crises, Conflict and Recovery.

In 2026, Julie co-authored Growing Affordable Rental Housing: A Cost-Based Approach and the AHURI report Australia’s Multi-provider Social Housing System: Contest or Growth? She also co-authored the EqualHouse field report Making a Difference: Land Policy and Housing. These studies extend her earlier research on land policy, the financialisation of housing and mission-driven investment. Across this work, she demonstrates that lasting affordability depends not only on constructing homes, but also on securing land, providing patient finance, regulating providers, reinvesting surpluses, maintaining assets and protecting tenants over the long term.

Julie serves on the editorial and advisory boards of Critical Housing Analysis and Housing Theory and Society. She is also a member of the International Advisory Board of HIAH, advising the Czech Government on affordable housing investment.

For the Master in Collective Housing, Julie brings a housing-systems perspective to architectural education. Her teaching connects the design of collective housing with the land, financial and institutional arrangements needed to realise it. Drawing on #Housing2030 and recent EqualHouse field research, she invites students to look beyond the building itself: who owns the land, who finances development, how rents are determined and how affordability and public value can be protected for future generations.