Rachel Gallagher

4

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4

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Rachel Gallagher is a Lecturer in Real Estate and Property Development at Griffith University. Her research focuses on how cities adapt their urban form to changing conditions such as rapid population growth or decline, natural disasters, deindustrialisation, and climate change. She uses GIS and spatial analysis to track changes in urban layouts over time—including city blocks, streets, and property parcels—and examines how urban policy shapes (or fails to shape) desired development patterns.

Before moving into academia, Rachel spent over a decade as a planner and policy advisor in state government, where she worked on major regional planning frameworks, housing supply strategies, and infrastructure coordination projects. She contributed to shaping growth management policies for fast-growing regions, integrated land use and transport planning, and developed resilience measures for communities facing climate and economic pressures. Earlier in her career, she practiced as a solicitor specialising in planning and environment law, advising on development approvals, statutory interpretation, and litigation.

Experience

  • 2026–present
    Lecturer, Griffith University

Education

  • 2025 
    The University of Queensland, Doctor of Philosophy
  • 2019 
    The University of Queensland, Master of Philosophy
  • 2016 
    Griffith University, Graduate Certificate of Urban and Environmental Planning
  • 2014 
    College of Law, Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice
  • 2013 
    The University of Queensland, Bachelor of Science (Geographical Sciences)
  • 2013 
    The University of Queensland, Bachelor of Laws (Hons)

Publications

  • 2025
    How path dependent urban morphology restricts the effectiveness of rezoning for urban consolidation: Lessons from Brisbane, Australia, Urban Affairs
  • 2025
    Building to the lowest common denominator: How uncertainty of approval, cost and delays discourage housing diversity in infill development projects, Cities
  • 2025
    Do housing preferences reduce feasibility of densification? Perspectives of planning and development experts and residents, Australian Planner
  • 2025
    Planning for dispossession: the continuing legacy of settler-colonialism in contemporary urban planning practices, Cities
  • 2025
    Real estate agency: land, housing and finance in urban and planning history conference, Planning Perspectives
  • 2024
    Even geography of upzoning: How historic urban layouts, land use and tenure systems influence densification of established suburbs, Urban Policy and Research
  • 2024
    Character contradiction: The exclusionary nature of preservationist planning restrictions, Urban studies
  • 2023
    Urban “blandscapes”: how the practical implementation of planning policy reduces land Use diversity, Urban Policy and Research
  • 2020
    Targeted urban consolidation or ad hoc redevelopment? The influence of cadastral structure and change on the urban form of Brisbane, Australia., Urban Geography
  • 2020
    ‘Protect the Brisbane backyard!’ (Except from subdivision for additional house construction), Australian Planner
  • 2019
    Parcel amalgamation as a mechanism for achieving urban consolidation through densification: the fixity of property boundaries over time., Land Use Policy

Professional Memberships

  • Planning Institute of Australia - Full Member

Contact Rachel for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision