Peter Murphy joined UNSW in 1982 as a Lecturer in Town Planning and was promoted to Professor in 2000. He served as Head of the School of the Built Environment and Associate Dean Research from 1999 to 2002 and was Faculty Dean from 2002-2008. As Dean, Professor Murphy was responsible to the Vice Chancellor for the strategic development of the Faculty of the Built Environment and the management of its financial, material and human resources in support of strategic goals. As a member of the Vice Chancellor's Advisory Committee, Professor Murphy was engaged in the broader development of UNSW and specific university projects.
Professor Murphy conducts research and provides advice on urban and regional affairs to national, state and local governments, the private sector and the media. His primary focus is on Australian cities but his extensive travels have led him to take a strong interest in the urban situation internationally, especially in China, India and northern Italy.
Peter Murphy's teaching is grounded in his knowledge of the economic aspects of how cities function, as spatial and economic systems. He deploys that knowledge to show how public interest objectives - related to urban economic growth, social equity and the environment - can be met by the use of market incentives and, on the other hand, how planning regulations may impact inappropriately on economic efficiency. His guiding principle is that managing the great challenge of steering growth and change in large urbanised regions in the 21st century requires less of a focus on regulation and design and that that there needs to be much greater appreciation amongst planners and the politicians they advise of the importance of manipulating production and consumption behavior through pricing strategies.
Peter Murphy's primary research interests are in the economics of urban land use and activity systems, the management of growth and change in large urbanized regions, and regional development planning.
His research career has had three major focii: (1) urban public interest implications of immigration, especially in relation to housing affordability, environmental management, infrastructure planning and governance; (2) social equity implications of economic restructuring, including cost recovery pricing of urban services and privatized infrastructure provision; (3) growth and change in peri-metropolitan and non-metropolitan amenity regions.
In addition to these primary research themes, Peter Murphy has worked on the development and characteristics of metropolitan employment centers, urban cultural economies, the export of built environment services and evidence-based planning.
His current research addresses the uses of economic tools to achieve urban management objectives and long range scenarios for urban devlopment in the context of economic, social, political and environmental drivers.
Burnley, IH., Marshall, NG., Murphy, PA. & *Hugo, G. 'Housing Factors in Welfare Migration to and from Metropolitan Cities in Australia'. Urban Policy and Research 2007; 25(No. 3): pp. 287 - 304.
Murphy, PA. 'EIA in Context: Strategy and Tactics'. In: Behnam Ta'i, Peter Murphy and P. S. Rana, eds. Environmental Impact Assessment: An Indo-Australian Perspective. First. Delhi: Bookwell, 2007.
Murphy, PA. 'The Metropolis'. In: Susan Thompson, eds. Planning Australia: An Overview of Urban and Regional Planning. First. Port Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Murphy, PA. 'Economy and Affect: People-Place Relationships and the Metropolis'. In: X. Ruan and P. Hoben, eds. Topophilia and Topophobia; Reflections on twentieth centry human habitat. First. UK: Routledge, 2007.
Murphy, PA., 2006, 'Seachange to Hillchange: A New Equilibrium?', in The Changing Nature of Australia' Country Towns, eds , VURRN Press Inc, Ballarat, VIC.
Marshall, NG., Murphy, PA., Burnley, IH. & *Hugo, G., 2006, 'Australian Intrastate Migration - The Story of Age Pensioners', in Australian Social Policy Journal, vol 2005, pp. 65 - 86.
Burnley, IH. & Murphy, PA., 2004, 'Metropolis and Hinterland', in Sea Change: Movement from Metropolitan to Arcadian Australia, eds , UNSW Press, Sydney, Australia.
Burnley, IH. & Murphy, PA., 2004, 'Conclusion', in Sea Change: Movement from Metropolitan to Arcadian Australia, eds , UNSW Press, Sydney, Australia.
Burnley, IH. & Murphy, PA., 2004, 'Growth and Change: The National Picture', in Sea Change: Movement from Metropolitan to Arcadian Australia, eds , UNSW Press, Sydney, Australia.
Burnley, IH. & Murphy, PA., 2004, 'Managing Growth and Change', in Sea Change: Movement from Metropolitan to Arcadian Australia, eds , UNSW Press, Sydney, Australia.
Burnley, IH. & Murphy, PA., 2004, 'Newcomers and Locals: Attitudes to Growth and Change', in Sea Change: Movement from Metropolitan to Arcadian Australia, eds , UNSW Press, Sydney, Australia.
Burnley, IH. & Murphy, PA., 2004, 'The New South Wales Turnaround: Cycles and Settlement', in Sea Change: Movement from Metropolitan to Arcadian Australia, eds , UNSW Press, Sydney, Australia.
Burnley, IH. & Murphy, PA., 2004, 'Why Sea Changers Move: The Mainstream', in Sea Change: Movement from Metropolitan to Arcadian Australia, eds , UNSW Press, Sydney, Australia.
Burnley, IH., Marshall, NG., Murphy, PA. & *Hugo, G., 2004, 'Why Sea Changers Move: Income Support Recipients', in Sea Change: Movement from Metropolitan to Arcadian Australia, eds , UNSW Press, Sydney, Australia.
Burnley, IH., Murphy, PA. & Hanna, BJ., 2004, 'Sea Changers and Sea Change Localities', in Sea Change: Movement from Metropolitan to Arcadian Australia, eds , UNSW Press, Sydney, Australia.
Burnley, IH. & Murphy, PA., 2004, 'Introduction', in Sea Change: Movement from Metropolitan to Arcadian Australia, eds , UNSW Press, Sydney, Australia.
Management Group
2001 & 2003 - Australian Housing and Urban research Institute
