Dr Dorina Pojani
Dr

Dorina Pojani

Email: 
Phone: 
+61 7 336 56091

Background

I am an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning. Since joining the University of Queensland in 2015, my research has focused on the built environment triad: urban design, mobility, and housing - in both the Global North and South. I approach my work from a feminist perspective, considering the role of gender in the city.

My personal and academic journey has been international in nature. I am a native of Albania. Over the years I have held guest teaching and/or research positions in Austria (UWien), Canada (UBC), Chile (PUC), Italy (IUAV), the Netherlands (UvA/TUD), Oman (GUTech), and Vietnam (UTC), and I have provided consultancy services to various United Nations agencies including the UNDP, UNESCAP, and UN Habitat. I speak Italian, Spanish, and French in addition to English and Albanian.

My latest books are Trophy Cities: A Feminist Perspective on New Capitals (Edward Elgar, 2021), Alternative Planning History and Theory (Routledge, 2023), Planning as Political Theatre: Chronicle of Two Megaprojects Foretold (Routledge, 2025), and Early Planning Utopias: A Feminist Critique (Anthem Press, 2025). For five consecutive years (2021-2025), I have been included in the 'Stanford/Elsevier World’s Top 2% Researchers' list, and have ranked among the top-ten 'urban and regional planning' researchers in Australia. Alongside my academic research, I also publish broadly in non-academic outlets and regularly give interviews on national and international media. My articles in The Conversation have reached nearly a million readers. Prior to joining academia, I worked in urban design and planning in California. My research has been funded by domestic and international granting bodies, including the Australian Research Council. I have attracted more than $1 million in grant funding.

My funded projects are listed below. For a full list of my publications, click the 'Works' tab, which displays results live from UQ eSpace, or visit my external profiles listed on the left panel.

Availability

Dr Dorina Pojani is:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Fields of research

Built Environment and Design Urban and regional planning

Qualifications

  • Urban Transport in Developing Countries, Polytechnic University of Tirana
  • Master of Community Planning, University of Cincinnati

Research interests

  • Feminist planning

    This is not a product but a lens through which I examine urban design, transport, and housing.

Research impacts

Funded Projects*

2026-2027. Project: Study of e-mobility usage across Queensland. Transport Academic Partnership, Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads, Australia. Grant co-writer ($100,000).

2026-2027. Project: Building a dynamic demand forecast tool for shared electric micromobility. UQ Knowledge Exchange and Translation (Kx&T) Fund, Australia. Grant co-writer ($55,500).

2025-2026. Project: Closing the loop on first/last mile transportation in Brisbane: Assessing the connection between micromobility and 50 cent public transport fares. iMove CRC, Brisbane City Council, Australia. Grant co-writer ($100,000).

2025. Project: Diaspora 4Innovation: Integrating work practice in urban planning curricula in Albania. GERMIN Fellowship, Albania. Lead grant writer ($18,500).

2023-2025. Project: Evaluation of separated cycle tracks in new developments. Transport Academic Partnership, Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads, Australia. Sole grant writer ($100,000).

2023. Project: A gendered critique of early planned utopian cities. School of Architecture, Design and Planning Seed Funding, University of Queensland, Australia. Grant co-writer ($3,000).

2023-2025. Project: Study of factors associated with the choice of private electric transport vehicles in Vietnam. National Foundation for Science and Technology (NAFOSTED), Vietnam. Grant co-writer ($50,000).

2023-2024. Project: The woman-friendly city: Case studies of post-industrial areas in Tirana. READ Fellowship, Albanian-American Development Foundation, Albania. Lead grant writer ($17,000).

2022. Project: Minimising corruption in urban planning and development: What can the Balkans learn from Scandinavia? UQ Promoting Women Fellowship (PWF), Australia. Sole grant writer ($12,500).

2022. Project: We don’t know where to go or how to get there: Mapping out the mobility needs for tourists in urban destinations. UQ BEL Connect Grant, Australia. Grant co-writer ($18,500).

2021-2022. Project: The impact of Covid-19 on Brisbane / Southeast Queensland. UQ Faculty of Science COVID Research Recovery Fund, Australia. Lead grant writer ($50,000).

2021-2022. Project: Bikeability for transportation: Tools and data for research and practice. AURIN grant, Australia. Grant co-writer ($135,600).

2017-2020. Project: Reclaiming lost ground: Transitions of mobility and parking. Australian Research Council, Linkage grant, Australia. Grant co-writer ($358,000).

2016. Project: Planning Tiger Cub city-regions: Role models and policy transfers in sustainable transport in Southeast Asia. Project based in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand. UQ Early Career Researcher grant, Australia. Sole grant writer ($26,150).

2015-2017. Project: Urban planning issues in planned capital cities in seven countries: Burma, India, Korea, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Brazil, and Australia. UQ Startup grant, Australia. Sole grant writer ($15,000).

2014-2015. Project: Informal Housing in five Balkan countries: Serbia, Northern Macedonia, Bosnia, Albania, and Kosovo. Grant from: Van Eesteren-Fluck & Van Lohuizen Stichting (EFL) Foundation, The Netherlands. Sole grant writer ($15,000).

Editorial Boards

  • Sustainable Cities and Society (current)
  • Journal of Planning Education and Research (current)
  • Urban Policy and Research (current)
  • Australian Planner (current)
  • Journal of Transport Geography (current)
  • Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice

Search Professor Dorina Pojani’s works on UQ eSpace

252 works between 2004 and 2026
All (252) Book (9) Journal Article (157) Other Outputs (47) Edited Outputs (2) Conference Publication (8) Book Chapter (29)

181 - 200 of 252 works

2018

Book Chapter

Dutch experiences of policy mobility in urban planning

Stead, Dominic and Pojani, Dorina (2018). Dutch experiences of policy mobility in urban planning. Knowledge, policymaking and learning for European cities and regions: from research to practice. (pp. 123-134) edited by Nicola Francesco Dotti. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Dutch experiences of policy mobility in urban planning

2017

Other Outputs

Here’s what bike-sharing programs need to succeed

Mateo-Babiano, Iderlina, Pojani, Dorina, Corcoran, Jonathan and Bean, Richard (2017, 12 22). Here’s what bike-sharing programs need to succeed The Conversation

Here’s what bike-sharing programs need to succeed

2017

Journal Article

Cities as story: redevelopment projects in authoritarian and hybrid regimes

Pojani, Dorina (2017). Cities as story: redevelopment projects in authoritarian and hybrid regimes. Journal of Urban Affairs, 40 (5), 705-720. doi: 10.1080/07352166.2017.1360737

Cities as story: redevelopment projects in authoritarian and hybrid regimes

2017

Other Outputs

Freeing up the huge areas set aside for parking can transform our cities

Pojani, Dorina, Mateo-Babiano, Iderlina, Corcoran, Jonathan and Sipe, Neil (2017, 10 30). Freeing up the huge areas set aside for parking can transform our cities The Conversation

Freeing up the huge areas set aside for parking can transform our cities

2017

Journal Article

Barriers to the pedestrianization of city centres: perspectives from the Global North and the Global South

Parajuli, Ayush and Pojani, Dorina (2017). Barriers to the pedestrianization of city centres: perspectives from the Global North and the Global South. Journal of Urban Design, 23 (1), 1-19. doi: 10.1080/13574809.2017.1369875

Barriers to the pedestrianization of city centres: perspectives from the Global North and the Global South

2017

Other Outputs

Movies and TV choose to tell us different stories about the cities of today

Darchen, Sebastien, Pojani, Dorina and Sipe, Neil (2017, 09 11). Movies and TV choose to tell us different stories about the cities of today The Conversation

Movies and TV choose to tell us different stories about the cities of today

2017

Journal Article

Reexamining transport poverty, job access, and gender issues in Central and Eastern Europe

Pojani, Elona, Boussauw, Kobe and Pojani, Dorina (2017). Reexamining transport poverty, job access, and gender issues in Central and Eastern Europe. Gender, Place and Culture, 24 (9), 1-23. doi: 10.1080/0966369X.2017.1372382

Reexamining transport poverty, job access, and gender issues in Central and Eastern Europe

2017

Journal Article

Barriers to successful bus rapid transit expansion: developed cities versus developing megacities

Chayacani Mallqui, Yngrid Yamili and Pojani, Dorina (2017). Barriers to successful bus rapid transit expansion: developed cities versus developing megacities. Case Studies on Transport Policy, 5 (2), 254-266. doi: 10.1016/j.cstp.2017.01.004

Barriers to successful bus rapid transit expansion: developed cities versus developing megacities

2017

Journal Article

A decade of transit oriented development policies in Brisbane, Australia: development and land-use impacts

Yang, Katie and Pojani, Dorina (2017). A decade of transit oriented development policies in Brisbane, Australia: development and land-use impacts. Urban Policy and Research, 35 (3), 347-362. doi: 10.1080/08111146.2017.1294537

A decade of transit oriented development policies in Brisbane, Australia: development and land-use impacts

2017

Journal Article

Is the suburban dream still alive in Australia? Evidence from Brisbane

Willing, Roxanne and Pojani, Dorina (2017). Is the suburban dream still alive in Australia? Evidence from Brisbane. Australian Planner, 54 (2), 1-13. doi: 10.1080/07293682.2017.1296875

Is the suburban dream still alive in Australia? Evidence from Brisbane

2017

Journal Article

Tirana in cerca di identità: il territorio suburbano di ‘Durana’

Pojani, Dorina (2017). Tirana in cerca di identità: il territorio suburbano di ‘Durana’. Urbanistica Informazioni, 267-268, 53-58.

Tirana in cerca di identità: il territorio suburbano di ‘Durana’

2017

Journal Article

Transit-oriented street design in Beijing

Kong, Weichang and Pojani, Dorina (2017). Transit-oriented street design in Beijing. Journal of Urban Design, 22 (3), 1-23. doi: 10.1080/13574809.2016.1271700

Transit-oriented street design in Beijing

2017

Book Chapter

The urban transport crisis in emerging economies: a comparative overview

Pojani, Dorina and Stead, Dominic (2017). The urban transport crisis in emerging economies: a comparative overview. The urban transport crisis in emerging economies. (pp. 283-295) edited by Dorina Pojani and Dominic Stead. New York: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-43851-1_14

The urban transport crisis in emerging economies: a comparative overview

2017

Journal Article

Do northwestern and southeastern Europe share a common “cycling mindset”? Comparative analysis of beliefs toward cycling in the Netherlands and the Balkans

Pojani, Dorina, Bakija, Dukagjin, Shkreli, Entela, Corcoran, Jonathan and Mateo-Babiano, Iderlina (2017). Do northwestern and southeastern Europe share a common “cycling mindset”? Comparative analysis of beliefs toward cycling in the Netherlands and the Balkans. European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research, 17 (1), 25-45. doi: 10.18757/ejtir.2017.17.1.3178

Do northwestern and southeastern Europe share a common “cycling mindset”? Comparative analysis of beliefs toward cycling in the Netherlands and the Balkans

2017

Book

The urban transport crisis in emerging economies

Dorina Pojani and Dominic Stead eds. (2017). The urban transport crisis in emerging economies. New York: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-43851-1

The urban transport crisis in emerging economies

2017

Book Chapter

The urban transport crisis in emerging economies: an introduction

Pojani, Dorina and Stead, Dominic (2017). The urban transport crisis in emerging economies: an introduction. The urban transport crisis in emerging economies. (pp. 1-10) edited by Dorina Pojani and Dominic Stead. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-43851-1_1

The urban transport crisis in emerging economies: an introduction

2016

Journal Article

How does our natural and built environment affect the use of bicycle sharing?

Mateo-Babiano, Iderlina, Bean, Richard, Corcoran, Jonathan and Pojani, Dorina (2016). How does our natural and built environment affect the use of bicycle sharing?. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 94, 295-307. doi: 10.1016/j.tra.2016.09.015

How does our natural and built environment affect the use of bicycle sharing?

2016

Journal Article

Ideologjia e financimit të transportit urban në Tiranë: Të ardhurat e brendshme dhe impakti i ndihmës ndërkombëtare

Pojani, Dorina (2016). Ideologjia e financimit të transportit urban në Tiranë: Të ardhurat e brendshme dhe impakti i ndihmës ndërkombëtare. Perpjekja, 21 (34-35), 203-214.

Ideologjia e financimit të transportit urban në Tiranë: Të ardhurat e brendshme dhe impakti i ndihmës ndërkombëtare

2016

Journal Article

Learning by doing: employer expectations of planning studio education

Pojani, Dorina, Johnson, Laurel, Darchen, Sebastien and Yang, Katie (2016). Learning by doing: employer expectations of planning studio education. Urban Policy and Research, 36 (1), 1-9. doi: 10.1080/08111146.2016.1221814

Learning by doing: employer expectations of planning studio education

2016

Journal Article

Obstacles to the creation of successful bus rapid transit systems: the case of Bangkok

Wu, Irene and Pojani, Dorina (2016). Obstacles to the creation of successful bus rapid transit systems: the case of Bangkok. Research in Transportation Economics, 60, 44-53. doi: 10.1016/j.retrec.2016.05.001

Obstacles to the creation of successful bus rapid transit systems: the case of Bangkok

Past funding

  • 2023 - 2025
    Evaluation of separated cycle tracks in new developments
    Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads
    Open grant
  • 2021 - 2023
    Bikeability for transportation: tools and data for research and practice
    Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network
    Open grant
  • 2016 - 2021
    Reclaiming lost ground: Transitions of mobility and parking
    ARC Linkage Projects
    Open grant
  • 2016
    Planning Tiger Cub City-regions: role models and policy transfers in sustainable transport in Southeast Asia
    UQ Early Career Researcher
    Open grant

Availability

Dr Dorina Pojani is:
Available for supervision

Looking for a supervisor? Read our advice on how to choose a supervisor.

Available projects

  • Information for prospective students

    Email inquiries are welcome. Prior to emailing me, please take a look at UQ's HDR entry requirements. I encourage you to propose original topics in my areas of expertise. I am particularly interested in projects which are international and comparative in nature, and can help you refine your ideas. All topics can be adjusted to suit a PhD, Master, or Honours project.

  • Past and current research (HDR) Supervision (PhD and MPhil)

    1. Els Leclercq [completed, associate]
    2. Roja Gholamhosseini [completed, principal]
    3. Annie McCabe [completed, principal]
    4. Renuka Bhoge [completed, principal]
    5. Deti Kusmalawati [completed, associate]
    6. Fahimeh Khalaj [completed, principal]
    7. Tigor Panjaitan [completed, principal]
    8. Melissa Hensley [completed, principal]
    9. Tmnit Hailu [completed, associate]
    10. Ksenia Nikolaeva [completed, associate]
    11. Nirma Yossa [completed, principal]
    12. Weichang Kong [completed, principal]
    13. Sufian Almubarak [principal, completed]
    14. Xuanbo Liu [associate, completed]
    15. ‪Abolghasem Azhdari [associate, completed]
    16. Krismiyati Tasrin [principal]
    17. Amjad Hossain Reyad [principal]
    18. Nadia Zaini [principal]
    19. Ahmad Yazdanian [associate]
    20. Francesco Montresor [associate]

  • Esteem and recognition

    2023: Nominated for UQ Research Culture Award, category 5: Supporting career development for researchers (EMCR)

    2022: Shortlisted for UQ Award for Excellence in Higher Degree Research (HDR) Training

    2020: SEES Most Impassioned Teacher Award

  • Teaching experience

    The University of Queensland

    • Planning Theory (PLAN4001 / PLAN7120) – Lecturer & Coordinator [Highly Commended course by AESOP]
    • Transport Planning (PLAN2100 / PLAN7116) – Lecturer & Coordinator [Dean’s Commendation for Excellent Teaching, 2020 and 2021]
    • History of the Built Environment (PLAN2005) – Lecturer & Coordinator
    • Citymaking: Theory and Practice (PLAN4001 / PLAN7120) – Lecturer

    Internationally

Supervision history

Current supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

    New capital cities: Assessing gender inclusion in Nusantara's planning and design

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Sara Alidoust

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Active transport and gender issues: A comparison between Brisbane and Sylhet

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Sara Alidoust

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Active Citizenship in planning scheme implementation : A case study into how members of a community engage in the development assessment process in Queensland

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Honorary Professor Neil Sipe

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Housing as a feminist issue: The case of Kuching, Sarawak

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Sara Alidoust

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Co-Creating Urban Public Spaces in Southeast Asia: The Role of Civic Urbanisms and Participatory Practices in Crafting Socio-Ecological Sustainability

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Silvia Micheli

  • Doctor Philosophy

    The Right to Housing: Evaluating the Process of De-Socialization of Housing in Urban Areas

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Ali Cheshmehzangi

Completed supervision

Enquiries

Contact Dr Dorina Pojani directly for media enquiries about:

  • affordable housing
  • community
  • compact cities
  • cycling
  • mobility
  • neighbourhood design
  • parking
  • pedestrian areas
  • public transport
  • sustainability
  • urban planning

Need help?

For help with finding experts, story ideas and media enquiries, contact our Media team:

communications@uq.edu.au