Associate Professor Peter Walters
Major Convenor - Sociology
Associate Professor
School of Social Science
+61 7 336 52759
Researcher biography
I am an urban sociologist and an expert in urban community in all its forms. My research encompasses the outer suburbs in Australia, the gentrifying inner city and informal communities in cities in the Global South. My work focusses on how different urban places and spatial logics in the city impact on our opportunities to form attachments to neighbourhoods and each other, with a particular focus on the role of corporate capital and its tendency to homogenise our urban experience in Australia.
Internationally, I have written extensively on urban poverty in Bangladesh, India and Indonesia and I am currently involved in work on climate change and its effects on the urban poor in collaboration with colleagues in Indonesia, Brazil and Solomon Islands. My latest research concerns the impact of climate change, and natural disasters, on the urban poor. There are more than 1 billion people living in informal urban settlements, or slums. These people are among the most vulnerable to the impact of climate change, however, adaptation and mitigation policies are being formulated at multiple scales, often without considering the voices of the urban poor.
I am the convenor of the Bachelor of Arts Sociology program and an award winning teacher. I teach courses at all levels in our undergraduate sociology program including Introduction to Sociology (SOCY1050), An Urban World (SOCY2340) and Advanced Studies in Social Thought: Getting the Big Picture (SOCY3345).
I am also an award winning photographer (you can see some of my work on my Flickr page.
I welcome proposals from potential Honours and PhD students who are interested in any aspect of the social life of cities from anywhere in the world.
Publications
Book Chapters
Roitman, Sonia and Walters, Peter (2024). The logic of informality in shaping urban collective action in the Global South. Research Handbook on Urban Sociology. (pp. 538-551) edited by Miguel A. Martínez. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing. doi: 10.4337/9781800888906.00045
Lyons, Kristen and Walters, Peter (2021). Policy and planning responses to climate change in Solomon Islands: a place for forest-based carbon offset initiatives in building just and resilient territories?. Towards a just climate change resilience: developing resilient, anticipatory and inclusive communities response. (pp. 47-64) edited by Pedro Henrique Campello Torres and Pedro Roberto Jacobi. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan . doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-81622-3_4
Walters, Peter and Broom, Alex (2013). The city, the cafe and the public realm in Australia. Cafe Society. (pp. 185-205) edited by Aksel Tjora and Graham Scambler. New York, United States: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/9781137275936_11
Journal Articles
Fattah, Kazi Nazrul and Walters, Peter (2023). Engaging with informality and the subaltern in overlooked cities: towards an agenda for climate change research in the Global South. Climate and Development, ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print), 1-8. doi: 10.1080/17565529.2023.2277245
Walters, Peter, Ardhianto, Imam, Roitman, Sonia and Cahyadi, Rusli (2023). Nusantara: capital gain?. Inside Indonesia, 112 (Apr-Jun).
Fattah, Kazi Nazrul and Walters, Peter (2023). Locating agency at the urban grassroots: resistance and reworking in the everyday politics of informal settlements. Geoforum, 141 103703, 1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103703
Walters, Peter and Lyons, Kristen (2023). As vozes ausentes dos pobres urbanos na pesquisa climática e na elaboração de políticas. Diálogos Socioambientais, 16 (6) 6, 30-37.
Lyons, Kristen and Walters, Peter (2023). Indigenous peoples’ demand rights-led responses to the climate crisis. Dialogos Socioambientais, 6 (16), 24-29.
Walters, Peter and Lyons, Kristen (2023). The missing voices of the urban poor in climate research and policy making. Diálogos Socioambientais, 6 (16), 30-35.
Lyons, Kristen and Walters, Peter (2023). Os Povos Indígenas e as respostas baseadas em defesa de direitos face à crise climática. Diálogos Socioambientais, 6 (16) 5, 30-34.
Walters, Peter and Smith, Naomi (2022). It’s So Ridiculously Soulless: Geolocative Media, Place And Third Wave Gentrification
. Space and Culture, 27 (1) ARTN 12063312221090428, 1-16. doi: 10.1177/12063312221090428
Walters, Peter, Kamrul Ahsan, A. H. M. and Adil Khan, M. (2021). Patron Client Relationships and a Right to the City: A Bangladeshi Case Study. Forum for Development Studies, 48 (3), 1-19. doi: 10.1080/08039410.2021.1947363
Walters, Peter (2021). The vanishing suburban dream in Australia. DISP, 57 (3), 4-21. doi: 10.1080/02513625.2021.2026646
Ahsan, A. H. M. Kamrul, Walters, Peter and Khan, Md. Adil (2021). Service delivery and accountability of urban officials: evidence from urban-based local government in Bangladesh. South Asian Survey, 28 (2), 1-21. doi: 10.1177/09715231211016312
Lata, Lutfun Nahar, Walters, Peter and Roitman, Sonia (2020). The politics of gendered space: social norms and purdah affecting female informal work in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Gender, Work and Organization, 28 (1) gwao.12562, 318-336. doi: 10.1111/gwao.12562
Walters, Peter, Benavides, Adrian and Lyons, Kristen (2020). Education for a vocation or society ? The dialectic of modern and customary epistemologies in Solomon Islands. Pacific Dynamics: Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, 4 (1), 1-16. doi: 10.18124/hgmr-7603
Fattah, Kazi Nazrul and Walters, Peter (2020). “A Good Place for the Poor!” Counternarratives to territorial stigmatisation from two informal settlements in Dhaka. Social Inclusion, 8 (1), 55-65. doi: 10.17645/si.v8i1.2318
Lyons, Kristen, Walters, Peter and Shewring, Annabel (2019). “Forests for life” or forests for carbon markets?The case of Choiseul Province, Solomon Islands. Pacific Dynamics: Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, 3 (1).
Molnar, Lena and Walters, Peter (2019). Community, Aesthetics, and Authenticity: The Retail Curatorship of a Rapidly Gentrifying Australian Streetscape. Space and Culture, 24 (2), 120633121882128-343. doi: 10.1177/1206331218821283
Walters, Peter (2018). The limits to participation: urban poverty and community driven development in Rajshahi City, Bangladesh. Community Development, 49 (5), 1-17. doi: 10.1080/15575330.2018.1537296
Lata, Lutfun , Walters, Peter and Roitman, Sonia (2018). A marriage of convenience: street vendors' everyday accommodation of power in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Cities, 84, 143-150. doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2018.08.002
Cheshire, Lynda, Walters, Peter and ten Have, Charlotte (2018). ‘Strangers in my home’: Disaster and the durability of the private realm. Sociological Review, 66 (6), 003802611875478-1241. doi: 10.1177/0038026118754781
Smith, Naomi and Walters, Peter (2017). Desire lines and defensive architecture in modern urban environments. Urban Studies, 55 (13), 004209801773269-2995. doi: 10.1177/0042098017732690
Walters, Peter and Lyons, Kristen (2016). Community teak forestry in Solomon Islands as donor development: when science meets culture. Land Use Policy, 57, 730-738. doi: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.06.029
Walters, Peter (2015). The problem of community resilience in two flooded cities: Dhaka 1998 and Brisbane 2011. Habitat International, 50, 51-56. doi: 10.1016/j.habitatint.2015.08.004
Lyons, Kristen, Walters, Peter and Riddell, Erin (2015). The role of faith-based organizations in environmental governance: the case of forestry in Solomon Islands. Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, 18 (3), 342-360. doi: 10.1080/1523908X.2015.1098524
Walters, Peter and Whitehouse, Gillian (2015). Mothers’ perceptions of support in the workplace: a sense of entitlement or resignation?. Journal of Sociology, 51 (3), 769-782. doi: 10.1177/1440783314536793
Shearer, Scott and Walters, Peter (2014). Young people's lived experience of the 'street' in North Lakes master planned estate. Children's Geographies, 13 (5), 604-617. doi: 10.1080/14733285.2014.939835
Walters, Peter and McCrea, Rod (2014). Early gentrification and the public realm: a case study of West End in Brisbane, Australia. Urban Studies, 51 (2), 355-370. doi: 10.1177/0042098013489748
Walters, Peter and Whitehouse, Gilllian (2012). A limit to reflexivity: the challenge for working women of negotiating sharing of household labor. Journal of Family Issues, 33 (8), 1117-1139. doi: 10.1177/0192513X11431566
McCrea, Rod and Walters, Peter (2012). Impacts of urban consolidation on urban liveability: comparing an inner and outer suburb in Brisbane, Australia. Housing, Theory and Society, 29 (2), 196-206. doi: 10.1080/14036096.2011.641261
Cheshire, L., Walters, P. and Wickes, R. (2010). Privatisation, security and community: How master planned estates are changing suburban Australia. Urban Policy and Research, 28 (4), 359-373. doi: 10.1080/08111146.2010.532474
Cheshire, Lynda, Walters, Peter and Rosenblatt, Ted (2010). The politics of housing consumption: Renters as flawed consumers on a master planned estate. Urban Studies, 47 (12), 2597-2614. doi: 10.1177/0042098009359028
Cheshire, Lynda Anne, Rosenblatt, Ted, Lawrence, Geoffrey and Walters, Peter (2009). The governmentality of master planning: Housing consumption, aesthetics and community on a new estate. Housing Studies, 24 (5), 653-667. doi: 10.1080/02673030903082302
Walters, Peter (2009). Qualitative archiving: Engaging with epistemological misgivings. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 44 (3), 309-320. doi: 10.1002/j.1839-4655.2009.tb00148.x
Walters, Peter and Bartlett, Helen (2009). Growing old in a new estate: Establishing new social networks in retirement. Ageing and Society, 29 (2), 217-236. doi: 10.1017/S0144686X08007812
Walters, Peter and Rosenblatt, Ted (2008). Co-operation or co-presence? The comforting ideal of community in a master planned estate. Urban Policy and Research, 26 (4), 397-413. doi: 10.1080/08111140801986517
Conference Papers
Peter Walters and Naomi Smith (2019). Wear and tear: public space and the cost of Instagram popularity. 2019 TASA Conference: Diversity & Urban Growth, Western Sydney University, Parramatta, 25-28 November 2019.
Walters, Peter (2019). The death of the suburban ideal in Australia. In and Beyond the City: Emerging Ontologies, Persistent Challenges and Hopeful Futures, New Delhi, India, 18-21 September 2019.
Walters, Peter (2019). Authorship matters: authentic social spaces in the Asia Pacific metropolis. Made by People: Microdesign in the Asia Pacific City, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 29 October 2019.
Duffy, Michelle , Smith, Naomi and Walters, Peter (2018). "Instagrammable”: Exploring the social ecology of tourist places. 7th Ethnography and Qualitative Research Conference, Bergamo, Italy, June 6-9 2018.
Lata, Lutfun and Walters, Peter (2016). The Politics of Space in Dhaka: Informality, Power and Negotiations in the Everyday Life of the Urban Poor. The Australian Sociological Association Conference 2016, The Australian Catholic University, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia, 28 November - 1 December 2016. Melbourne, Australia: The Australian Sociological Association.
Walters, Peter (2015). An ideal city? Governing ‘communitas’ in the face of an urban disaster. The Annual Conference of the Australian Sociological Association, Cairns, QLD, Australia, 23 - 26 November 2015. Cairns, QLD, Australia: The Australian Sociological Association (TASA).
Walters, Peter, Khan, M. Adil and Ashan, M. Kamrul (2014). Access to knowledge as prelude to a right to the city for the urban poor in Rajshahi, Bangladesh. UPE11: 11th Symposium of International Urban Planning and Environment Association - IUPEA; 1st IUPEA Symposium in Latin America, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 16-19 September, 2014. La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina: Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación.
Walters, Peter (2014). Housing affordability and urban community. The Rise of the Renter Nation: The Australian Chapter, Brisbane, Australia, 24 October 2014.
Walters, Peter (2013). Disaster, resilience and the city: a social comparison between Dhaka, Bangladesh and Brisbane, Australia. RC21 Conference 2013: Resourceful cities, Berlin, Germany, 29-31 August, 2013. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Research Committee 21 (RC21).
Walters, Peter and McCrea, Rod (2011). Maintenance of the public realm in the face of rapid inner city densification: a case study of West End in Brisbane, Australia. Annual RC21 Conference 2011, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 7-9 July 2011. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Research Committee 21 (RC21).
Walters, P. (2005). Growing Old on the Suburban Fringe: Master Planned Communities and Planned Diversity. 2nd State of Australian Cities Conference, Griffith University Southbank, Brisbane, 30 November - 2 December 2005. Brisbane: Griffith University.
Walters P. (2005). Building community in a master planned community: The experience of older residents. International Conference on Engaging Communities, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 14 - 17 August 2005. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Queensland Department of Main Roads.
Walters P. (2005). Space and Community: Growing Old in a New Suburb.. The Australian Sociological Association Conference, University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay Campus, 5 - 8 December 2005. Hobart: The Sociological Association of Australia.
Thesis
Walters, Peter (2008). Growing Old in Springfield Lakes: The Possibility of Community in a New Suburb. PhD Thesis, School of Social Science, The University of Queensland.
Newspaper Articles
Lyons, Kristen and Walters, Peter (2023, 09 28). Babatana rainforest conservation project: a lightning rod for others NAKAU Blog 1-2.
Walters, Peter (2021, 01 29). 'Communitas': - Remembering Brisbane's Mud Army Ten years On Westender - Brisbane's Urban Voice 1-3.
Walters, Peter and Smith, Naomi (2019, 08 06). Di Hong Kong, pengunjuk rasa melawan pemerintah dengan menguasai ruang publik The Conversation (Indonesia)
Walters, Peter and Smith, Naomi (2019, 08 06). Di Hong Kong, pengunjuk rasa melawan pemerintah dengan menguasai ruang publik The Conversation Indonesia
Walters, Peter and Smith, Naomi (2019, 08 02). How Hong Kong protesters have been winning the battle for public space The Conversation
Walters, Peter (2019, 01 31). We can learn a lot from inner cities' 'third places' Brisbane Times
Walters, Peter (2019, 01 31). Why outer suburbs lack inner city’s ‘third places’: a partial defence of the hipster The Conversation
Walters, Peter (2019, 01 31). Hipsters have changed inner cities for the better, so why should the suburbs miss out? ABC News 1-1.
Walters, Peter (2015, 05 15). Without affordable housing, we won’t have a society worth living in The Conversation
Audio Documents
Walters, Peter (2019). Hong Kong protesters and public space. 3CR Community Radio Melbourne.
Walters, Peter and Steele, Wendy (2019). Creating community in the suburbs. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Research Reports
Walters, Peter, Cheshire, Lynda, Johnson, Laurel and Roitman, Sonia (2014). The many faces of poverty: A month in the life of the Wesley Mission Brisbanes's Emergency Relief Serviece: A report for Wesley Mission Brisbane. St Lucia, QLD Australia: The University of Queensland Housing and Urban Studies Research Network (UQ HAUS).
Blumfield, Tim, Bacon, Gary, Lyons, Kristen, Walters, Peter and Tutua, Shane (2013). Improving silvicultural and economic outcomes for community timber plantations in Solomon Islands by interplanting with Flueggea flexuosa and other Pacific agroforestry species. Canberra, ACT, Australia: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).
Lyons, Kristen, Walters, Peter, Riddell, Erin, Burch, David and Boer, Henry (2012). Agro-forestry and its Social Impacts Social Science Research Final Report - 2012. Canberra, ACT, Australia: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.
Jones, Andrew, Lawrence, Geoffrey, Muirhead, Bruce, Bartlett, Helen, Cheshire, Lynda, Woolcock, G., Graham, Philip, Rosenblatt, Ted and Walters, P. (2007). Building Sustainable Social Capital in New Communities: Report to the Industry Partner. St Lucia, Brisbane: The University of Queensland.