Bob Zehner is a social scientist whose research and publications have focussed on responses of residents to living in various environments including new towns and planned communities, mining towns and award-winning medium density housing. His work has also included a nationwide study of local government responses to climate change, of Sydney resident responses to aircraft noise, and a longitudinal study of practicing planners and planning education. He came to the UNSW from the University of North Carolina in 1975 as a Fulbright Scholar, and formally joined the School of Town Planning in 1976. He received a 2002 UNSW Vice-Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence, was a 2003 UNSW nominee for an Australian Universities Teaching Committee award, and received an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning in 2008.
Professional affiliation and membership
- Member, Planning Institute of Australia
Member, American Sociological Association
Teaching
Survey research methodology, urban society and sociology, communication, quantitative techniques and data analysis, planning theory and practice I.
Research
Survey methodologist with a wide range of research interests including responses to neighbourhood and community designs, aircraft noise amelioration, local government and climate change, mining towns and planning education. He was the initial Convenor of the Faculty's Urban and Regional Studies Research Group. He is the Joint Leader (with Graham Forsyth of COFA) of the Studio Teaching Project, a collaboration of the University of New South Wales, the University of Queensland, the RMIT University and the University of Tasmania, which is supported by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (formerly the Carrick Institute) under their Discipline Based Initiatives scheme.
Recent Publications
Papers & Book Chapters
Zehner, RB. 'Creativity, Innovation and Change: A faculty-wide first-year course still waiting for lift off'. In: Proceedings of the ConnectED 2007 International Conference on Design Education. Sydney, UNSW, 2007.
Wu, C., Marshall, NG., Corkery, LF., Evans, CB. & Zehner, RB. 'Urban Wetland Environment Management : Public perception and Evaluation'. In: Proceedings of CRIOCM 2007 International Research Symposium on Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate. Sydney, CRIOCM, UNSW and Shenzhen University, pp. 39 - 49 2007.
Corkery, LF., Roche, B., Watson, K. & Zehner, RB. 'Transforming Design Studio Learning and Teaching Through Real World, Interdisciplinary Projects'. In: Proceedings of ConnectED 2007 International Conference on Design Education. Sydney, UNSW, 2007.
Kordjamshidi, M., King, SE., Zehner, RB. & Prasad, DK. 'Modeling efficient building design: A comparison of conditioned and free-running house rating approaches'. Architectural Science Review 2007; 50(1): pp. 52 - 59.
Marshall, NG. & Zehner, RB. 'Community Participation: To be Involved or Not to be Involved - Is That the Question?'. In: Susan Thompson, eds. Planning Australia: An Overview of Urban and Regional Planning. First. Port Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Page Last Updated: 8 Nov 2009
Management Group
Australian Learning and Teaching Council Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning (2008)