Claudia Baldwin

Biography

Professor Claudia Baldwin retired from University of the Sunshine in 2023. She taught regional and urban planning and was an active researcher and post-graduate supervisor at the University of the Sunshine Coast from 2006. She was co-Director of USC’s Sustainability Research Centre 2020-2022.

Claudia has used participatory and visual methods to research institutional and social-environmental change on topics as diverse as climate change adaptation and youth perceptions of climate change, water and coastal planning, rural and regional land use, and age- and ability- friendly communities. She has published 78 journal articles and five books.

The most recent book, Rural development for sustainable social-ecological systems: Putting communities first co-edited with Severine van Bommel was published in 2023. The book, Natural Hazards and Disaster Justice: Challenges for Australia and its Neighbours, co-edited with Anna Lukasiewicz was published in 2020. Her recent article in The Conversation was about heat stress and seniors. The book, Integrated Water Planning: Achieving Sustainable Outcomes (2014) by Baldwin and Hamstead was about the need for evidenced-based water planning in developed and developing countries - now available in Chinese. The project Infill Development for Older Australians in South East Queensland, won the 2012 Planning Institute of Australia (Qld), Excellence Award for Cutting Edge Research and Teaching, and the International Association of Public Participation Australasian 2013 Core value award for participatory research.

She has facilitated public seminars on topics such as affordable housing, biosphere reserves, climate change implications, inclusive tourism, and heat and health; and facilitated a consensus-building workshop on fire management.

Claudia has been funded and/or collaborated on research regionally with agencies such as Uniting Care, Qld Dept of Environment and Science (SAP program), Queensland Reconstruction Authority (RRRF), Maleny Neighbourhood Centre, Noosa Biosphere Reserve, Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and Queensland fishers; as well as with researchers internationally in USA, Canada, Indonesia, Thailand, Brasil, UK, Kenya, and Indonesia. She was funded to work on social–ecological visualisation of coastal change, coordinated and funded by the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center at University of Maryland.

Prior to joining academia in 2006, Claudia worked for over 25 years in land-use and environmental policy and planning in Australian federal and Queensland state governments (GRMPA, Qld Premiers, Qld DNRM, Qld Dept of Environment) as well as consulting within Australia (e.g., National Water Commission) and overseas (IAP2, WWF). She mentors early career researchers, environmental managers, and planners in applied research and practice. She was co-leader of the multi-university Commonwealth-funded Experiential Learning in Planning.

Professional memberships

• Fellow, Planning Institute of Australia (PIA)
• Associate editor of the Australasian Journal of Environmental Management
• Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand (EIANZ)  

Expert media commentary

Professor Claudia Baldwin's specialist areas of knowledge include participation and community-based engagement; regional, environmental, and urban planning; sustainability; coastal/water/natural resource planning; water planning and management; and age and ability friendly communities.