Professor Diego Ramírez-Lovering
Professor Diego Ramírez-Lovering
Professor Diego Ramírez-Lovering
Associate Dean, International Director, Transforming Cities Hub
Monash University Research Portal
Professor Diego Ramírez-Lovering is an international leader in architectural and urban design research, specialising in climate-resilient interventions for rapidly urbanising and resource-constrained contexts across the Indo-Pacific. His work focuses on the role of design-based research in addressing informal settlement growth, urban inequality, environmental degradation and the escalating impacts of climate change.
As Professor of Architecture and Associate Dean International at Monash University’s Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, he has established a distinguished track record in transdisciplinary research at the intersection of planetary health, public infrastructure and international development.
He is Director of the Transforming Cities Hub, which develops scalable, context-specific solutions to urban inequality, climate vulnerability and environmental risk through partnerships with communities, governments, NGOs and industry.
Ramírez-Lovering is also Director of Revitalising Informal Settlements and Their Environments (RISE), an AUD$85 million program transforming health, housing, water and sanitation outcomes across 24 informal settlement communities in Fiji and Indonesia. Supported by the Wellcome Trust and the Australian, New Zealand and Fijian governments, RISE demonstrates his capacity to lead complex, multi-country research programs that translate design, ecology and public health evidence into practical models for climate-resilient urban upgrading.
Across his research portfolio, Ramírez-Lovering provides a critical bridge between technical knowledge, community priorities and government implementation. His work ensures that complex urban and environmental challenges are converted into actionable strategies, decision-support tools and planning frameworks capable of informing investment, policy and infrastructure delivery in vulnerable urban contexts.
News & events
Recent news
Upcoming events
Monash University launches Transforming Cities Hub to tackle escalating climate and social stress in the Indo-Pacific
RISE project named finalist for WRI Ross Centre Prize for Cities
Research
Revitalising Informal Settlements and their Environments (RISE)
Citarum Action Research Program (CARP)
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: Transforming Cities Hub
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: Transforming Cities Hub
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.