Associate ProfessorBeau Beza

Knowledge Areas
Urban Planning,

Landscape Architecture,

Urban Design,

Perception,

Placemaking, and

Development Planning

Projects
Current Substantive Research Project
I co-developed and lead the most globally significant research into young people's contemporary urban life, Growing Up In Cities III, with a colleague I am mentoring. This project involves 15 countries and examines adolescent perceptions of urban space to better understand the impact the local environment has on their lives. The Growing Up In Cities (GUIC) III project replicates two benchmark adolescent studies conducted in 1972 by MIT Professor Kevin Lynch and then in 1998 by University of Colorado Professor Louise Chawla. The GUIC III project is intended to empower children, providing them with a voice that advocates for their health and wellbeing, in contemporary urban contexts in Australia, Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Germany, Lebanon, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and the USA. The project has gained international notoriety where I have presented the project and its preliminary findings to scholars and practitioners as keynote addresses and in symposiums in China and Mexico. In 2025/26, dissemination of project findings will occur through a contracted book with Springer Publishing, titled: Growing Up In Cities of the twenty-first century: A global study with young people and their urban environment.

Self-Sourcing Research, Teaching &/or Co-Production Project Funding - From Intercultural, Development and Rebuilding Studios (Total income 2010-2019: $495,000)

Nepal: Junbesi High School (Junbesi, Nepal)
[Potable Drinking Water Co-Production
Project](https://www.keepwalkingnepal.com/deakin-uni-nepal-study-tour-2019/)
(2019); Deakin University, Australia / Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology / Junbesi High School, Nepal / Junbesi Community, Nepal.

Junbesi High School Post-Earthquake Hostel Rebuilding and Co-Production
Project (2016); Deakin University, Australia / Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology / Junbesi High School / Junbesi Community.

Student Hygiene Station Design Investigation and Co-Production Project (2012);
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia / Junbesi High School / Junbesi Community.

Nepal: Phungmoche Monastery & Sherpa Language Buddhist School (Phungmoche, Nepal)
[Potable Drinking Water Co-Production Project
](https://www.facebook.com/keepwalkingnepal/photos/a.1072179576260596/1877816469030232/?type=3&theater)(2018); Deakin University, Australia / Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology / Phungmoche Monastery & Sherpa Language Buddhist School.

Phungmoche Monastery Post-Earthquake Rebuilding and Co-Production Project
(Phungmoche, Nepal) (2017); Deakin University, Australia / Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology / Phungmoche Monastery & Sherpa Language Buddhist School.

Incinerator Design Investigation and Co-Production Project (2010); Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia / Phungmoche Monastery & Sherpa Language Buddhist School.

Colombia
Informal Settlements: Challenges and Opportunities in Urban Development (Bogota) (2015); Deakin University, Australia / Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology / Universidad La Salle, Mexico / Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia / Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Sweden.

Global Cities and Informal Settlement Investigation: Bogota, Colombia & Mexico City, Mexico (2013): Deakin University, Australia / Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia / Queensland University of Technology, Australia/Universidad La Salle, Mexico / Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia.

Mexico
[Finding Common Ground](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8inJADSJ-w): Creating Successful Places in the Redevelopment of Mexico City, Mexico and Melbourne, Australia (2014); Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia / Queensland University of Technology, Australia / Universidad La Salle, Mexico.