Professor Diego Ramírez-Lovering
Professor Diego Ramírez-Lovering
Professor Diego Ramírez-Lovering
Associate Dean, International & Engagement Director, Informal Cities Lab
Department of Architecture
Monash University Research Portal
Diego Ramírez-Lovering is Professor of Architecture of the Faculty of Art Design and Architecture. His research examines the contributory role that architecture and urbanism can play in addressing the significant challenges facing contemporary urban environments: climate change, resource limitations and rapid population growth with a key focus on the Global South. As an award-winning architectural practitioner and researcher, Ramírez-Lovering has been commissioned to design a range of projects including affordable housing, commercial projects and public art projects and has completed a number of urban resilience projects with State and Local Government groups and industry.
His written work has been published in leading journals in Australia and Internationally and his built work has been awarded by the Australian Institute of Architects. He is frequently called upon to talk to the media, present keynote lectures nationally and internationally and participate in adjudication, advisory and review panels for the public and private sector.
Ramírez-Lovering is the director of the Informal Cities Lab (ICL) in the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at Monash University. The Lab undertakes design-based research exploring and speculating on the conditions of informality in developing cities. ICL research – designed and conducted in collaboration with government and industry – strives for impact, purposefully and strategically targeting implementation at the intersection of academic research and international development.
Ramírez-Lovering has developed a body of design research examining the issues and processes involved in delivering best-practice water-sensitive urban design from the scale of the dwelling to the scale of the catchment. This research involves climate, and local catchment issues including ecology, water quality, and flood risk. This research has been explored in the developing city context of the Global South.
An exemplar of this research approach, Ramírez-Lovering is leading the development of design and engagement models for a multi-million dollar international research project aiming to advance human health and well-being in informal settlements by transforming housing, water infrastructure, water management, and sanitation practices in 24 communities in Fiji and Indonesia. The project, titled Revitalising Informal Settlements and Their Environments, includes an AUD$14 million grant from the Wellcome Trust’s “Our Planet Our Health” program and funding from the Asian Development Bank for capital works.
News & events
Recent news
Upcoming events
Informal Cities Lab project shines at the Engagement Australia Excellence Awards
Research
AIC Urban Water Cluster
Revitalising Informal Settlements and their Environments (RISE)
The Citarum Program
Designing Affordable, Sustainable Housing (DASH)
Habitat 21: Adaptable House
Urban Intensification & Green Infrastructure: Towards a Water Sensitive City
Graduate research opportunities
- Applications now open
- Scholarships may be available
- Undertaken with: Informal Cities Lab
RISE (Revitalising Informal Settlements and their Environments)
Working with communities, governments, local leaders and partner institutions, RISE is co-designing location-specific solutions that integrate green infrastructure, such as constructed wetlands, to strengthen the whole-of-life water and sanitation cycle. We aim to develop evidence through a rigorous program of research in ecological health, and human health and well-being.
- Applications now open
- Scholarships may be available
- Undertaken with: Informal Cities Lab
CARP (Citarum Action Research Program)
The project aims to design, deliver and monitor a socio-technical intervention in a strategic location in the upper river catchment of the Citarum River. We aim to develop evidence through a rigorous program of research in ecological health, well-being and community resilience to climate change.