School of the Environment

Associate Professor Sonia Roitman

Associate Professor
School of the Environment
Chamberlain Building (35), Room 543
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Researcher biography

Sonia Roitman is an urban sociologist and planner by training. She is currently the Planning Program Lead. She joined the University of Queensland in 2013 following previous academic, research and professional appointments at University College London (UK), School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS, UK), Free University Berlin (Germany), Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (Argentina), Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Técnica (CONICET-Argentina) and Secretaría de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable, Gobierno de Mendoza (Argentina). Before moving to Australia, Sonia lived and worked in Argentina, United Kingdom, Germany, Mexico and Uganda. Her contributions to the field of development planning and urban sociology include influential research on urban inequalities and how they manifest in cities. Her research interests include housing and poverty alleviation policies; the role of grassroots in the production of space; and, gated communities, segregation and planning instruments in global South cities. Her current research locations are Indonesia and Uganda. She served in the Board of the RC21 Committee (Research Committee of the Sociology of Urban and Regional Development, International Sociological Association) from 2014 to 2023 and was a joint-coordinator of the RC21 Doctoral School in Delhi in 2019.

I lead the 'Urban Inequalities Research Group'. We are a group of researchers working on understanding how urban inequalities are manifested and reproduced in cities. The topics we examine include: land tenure and collective action in Cambodia; informal livelihoods and the use of public space in the Philippines and Bangladesh; housing policies in Indonesia; land acquision processes in Indonesia; displacement and livelihoods in Myanmar; social justice, planning and sanitation infrastructure provision in Indonesia; the impacts of gated communities; the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Uganda; informal settlements and land tenure in Indonesia; social housing and segregation in Brazil; inclusionary planning instruments in Indonesia; and women empowerment and governance.

Teaching responsibilities

PLAN1101 Teamwork and negotiation for planners (Course coordinator and lecturer - 2021 and 2022)

PLAN3005/7121 Community planning and participation (Course coordinator and lecturer - 2019 to date)

PLAN3200/7200 Understanding development complexities: Indonesia fieldtrip course (Course coordinator and lecturer - 2015 to date)

PLAN4001/7120 Planning theory (Guest lecturer 2014-2019)

PLAN4130/7130 Planning practicum (Course coordinator - Summer 2018)

PLAN7010 Planning project (Course coordinator and lecturer - 2015-2016)

PLAN7612 Global South Cities (Course coordinator and lecturer - 2014 to date)

PLAN7614 Urban management and governance (Guest lecturer 2013-2016)

PLAN7638 Assessment of development projects (Course coordinator and lecturer 2013-2015 and lecturer 2016)

SOSC7140 Development effectiveness (Lecturer 2017)

ENVM2100/7100 Sustainable Development (Guest lecturer 2013)

GEOS3102 Global change: Problems and prospects (Guest lecturer 2022)

Service and Engagement

Planning Program Convenor Bachelor of Regional and Town Planning and Master of Urban and Regional Planning (2023- to date)

Planning Program Lead, UQ (2019-2023)

Student Advisor Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning (BRTP) and Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP), UQ (Jan 2019- Dec 2020)

Planning Institute of Australia UQ Representative (since 2019)

Full Member of Planning Institute of Australia

Board Member RC21 Committee (Research Committee of the Sociology of Urban and Regional Development) International Sociological Association (2014-2023)

Scientific Committee Member of Prospectiva Journal (Revista Prospectiva, Universidad del Valle, Colombia) (since 2015)

Scientific Committee Member of Bitácora Urbano-Territorial Journal (Revista Bitácora Urbano-Territorial, Universidad Nacional de Colombia (since 2012)

Editorial Member of Journal of City and Regional Development (Jurnal Penbangunan Wilayah & Kota, Universitas Diponegoro, Indonesia) (since 2018)

Publications

Book (1)
Book Chapters (17)
Journal Articles (29)
Conference Papers (6)
Video Document (1)
Working Paper (1)
Newspaper Articles (3)
Research Reports (4)

Book

Roitman, Sonia (2013). Descubriendo Uganda. Relatos desde una mirada muzungu. Lomas de Zamora, Argentina: Editorial Mundos.

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
Rukmana, Deden and Roitman, Sonia (2023). Conclusion: Seeing from Urban Indonesia. Routledge Handbook of Urban Indonesia. (pp. 380-391) London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003318170-32
Roitman, Sonia and Rukmana, Deden (2022). Urban Indonesia: challenges and opportunities. Routledge Handbook of Urban Indonesia. (pp. 3-14) London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003318170-2
Murwani, Ainun, Rochayati, Atik, Surati, , Utami, Wulan, Susilah, , Cahyanti, Eko Nur, Sujiyanti, , Mulia, Jasri and Roitman, Sonia (2022). Community Organisation and Neighbourhood Improvement Through Collective Action and Bottom-up Gender Planning in Yogyakarta. Routledge Handbook of Urban Indonesia. (pp. 102-116) London: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003318170-10
Roitman, Sonia (2020). Segregación residencial . Hábitat residencial. (pp. 146-165) edited by Margarita Greene and Rodrigo Mora . Santiago de Chile : Universidad Pontificia de Chile, Ediciones ARQ.
Martínez, Miguel A. and Roitman, Sonia (2019). Informal settlers. The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Urban and Regional Studies. (pp. 1-4) edited by Anthony M. Orum. London, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons. doi: 10.1002/9781118568446.eurs0160
Roitman, Sonia (2019). Yogyakarta: Slum dwellers' strategies and tactics in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Routledge Handbook on Informal Urbanization. (pp. 281-292) edited by Roberto Rocco and Jan van Ballegooijen. New York, NY, United States: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315645544-26
Iswanto, Rahmani, Sita and Roitman, Sonia (2019). Sukunan village, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Environmental sustainability through community-based waste management and eco-tourism. Global Planning Innovations for Urban Sustainability. (pp. 90-105) edited by Sébastien Darchen and Glen Searle. Abingdon, Oxon United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781351124225-7
Roitman, Sonia (2019). Urban activism in Yogyakarta, Indonesia: deprived and discontented citizens demanding a more just city. Contested cities and urban activism. (pp. 147-174) edited by Ngai Ming Yip, Xiaoyi Sun and Miguel Angel Martínez López. Singapore: Springer Singapore. doi: 10.1007/978-981-13-1730-9_7
Roitman, Sonia (2017). Teresa Caldeira. Key thinkers on cities. (pp. 57-62) edited by Regan Koch and Alan Latham. London, United Kingdom: Sage Publications.
Roitman, Sonia (2016). Top-down and bottom-up strategies for housing and poverty alleviation in Indonesia: the PNPM programme in Yogyakarta. Dynamics and resilience of informal areas: international perspectives. (pp. 187-210) edited by Sahar Attia, Shadan Shabka, Zeinab Shafik and Asmaa Ibrahim. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-29948-8_11
Roitman, Sonia, Webster, Chris and Landman, Karina (2013). Methodological frameworks and interdisciplinary research on gated communities. Dialogues in Urban and Regional Planning 5. (pp. 17-42) edited by Michael Hibbard, Robert Freestone and Tore Sager. Abingdon Oxon, U.K.: Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group). doi: 10.4324/9780203407455
Roitman, Sonia and Phelps, Nicholas A. (2011). From country club to edge city? Gated residential communities and the transformation of Pilar, Argentina. International perspectives on suburbanization: a post-suburban world?. (pp. 122-139) edited by N. A. Phelps and Fulong Wu. New York United States: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/9780230308626_7
Roitman, Sonia and Giglio, Mónica Adriana (2010). Latin American gated communities: The latest symbol of historic social segregation. Gated Communities: Social Sustainability in Contemporary and Historical Gated Developments. (pp. 63-78) Earthscan. doi: 10.4324/9781849774772
Roitman, Sonia and Giglio, Mónica Adriana (2010). Latin American gated communities: the latest symbol of historic social segregation. Gated communities: Social sustainability in contemporary and historical gated developments. (pp. 63-79) edited by Samer Bagaeen and Ola Uduku. London, United Kingdom: Earthscan.
Roitman, Sonia (2010). The changing image of suburban areas in Latin America and the role of local government. Suburbanization in global society. (pp. 273-292) edited by Mark Clapson and Ray Hutchinson. Bingley, United Kingdom: Emerald. doi: 10.1108/S1047-0042(2010)0000010014
Roitman, Sonia (2004). Gated communities and the right to safety. Report of Valladolid. The right to security and safety. (pp. 187-189) edited by Rosario del Caz, Mario Rodriguez and Manuel Saravia. Valladolid, Spain: Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Valladolid.

Journal Articles

Walters, Peter, Ardhianto, Imam, Roitman, Sonia and Cahyadi, Rusli (2023). Nusantara: capital gain?. Inside Indonesia, 112 (Apr-Jun).
Roitman, Sonia and Rukmana, Deden (2023). ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF URBAN INDONESIA PREFACE. Routledge Handbook of Urban Indonesia, XXVI-XXIX.
Roitman, Sonia (2022). Review of: The Routledge handbook of people and place in the 21st century city, edited by Kate Bishop and Nancy Marshall, New York and Oxon, Routledge, Taylor & Francis, 2020, 315 pp., AUD 319.20 (Hardback)/AUD 67.19 (Paperback), ISBN 978-0-8153-8094-8. Urban Policy and Research, 40 (4), 1-3. doi: 10.1080/08111146.2022.2141420
Roitman, Sonia, Setiawan, Bakti, Hadny Zakiyaturrahmah, Annisa and Murwani, Ainun (2022). Beyond university planning studio courses: involving civil society organizations in educating planners. Journal of Planning Education and Research ARTN 0739456X221074062, 1-18. doi: 10.1177/0739456x221074062
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
Roitman, Sonia and Recio, Redento B. (2020). Understanding Indonesia’s gated communities and their relationship with inequality. Housing Studies, 35 (5), 795-819. doi: 10.1080/02673037.2019.1636002
Recio, Redento B., Roitman, Sonia and Mateo-Babiano, Iderlina (2019). Mobility nodes and economic spaces: links, tensions and planning implications. Journal of Transport and Land Use, 12 (1), 765-783. doi: 10.5198/jtlu.2019.1478
Roitman, Sonia (2019). Urban poverty alleviation strategies in Yogyakarta, Indonesia: contrasting opportunities for community development. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 60 (3) apv.12229, 386-401. doi: 10.1111/apv.12229
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
Roitman, Sonia (2017). Splintering (sub) urbanism and social, differences: gated, communities as the driver for suburban change in Chacras de Coria (Mendoza, Argentina). Instituto Nacional de la Vivienda, 32 (90), 159-182. doi: 10.4067/S0718-83582017000200159
Johnson, Laurel, Roitman, Sonia, Morgan, Ann and MacLeod, Jason (2017). Challenging the productivity mantra: academic writing with spirit in place. Higher Education Research and Development, 36 (6), 1181-1193. doi: 10.1080/07294360.2017.1300140
Roitman, Sonia (2017). Review of Peter Herrle, Astrid Ley and Josefine Fokdal (eds.) 2015, From local action to global networks: housing the urban poor, Farnham: Ashgate. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 41 (2), 369-370. doi: 10.1111/1468-2427.12473
Recio, Redento B., Mateo-Babiano, Iderlina and Roitman, Sonia (2017). Revisiting policy epistemologies on urban informality: towards a post-dualist view. Cities, 61, 136-143. doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2016.08.018
Roitman, Sonia (2016). Urbanizaciones cerradas a escala planetaria. Prospectiva: Revista de Trabajo Social e Intervención Social (21), 13-22. doi: 10.25100/prts.v0i21.918
Phelps, Nicholas A., Tarazona Vento, Amparo and Roitman, Sonia (2015). The suburban question: grassroots politics and place making in Spanish suburbs. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 33 (3), 512-532. doi: 10.1068/c13136
Roitman, Sonia (2013). Close but Divided: How Walls, Fences and Barriers Exacerbate Social Differences and Foster Urban Social Group Segregation. Housing Theory and Society, 30 (2), 156-176. doi: 10.1080/14036096.2012.728150
Roitman, Sonia and Scopes, Jonathan (2012). Gated communities: definitions, causes and consequences. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Urban Design and Planning, 165 (3), 189-189. doi: 10.1680/udap.11.00026
Roitman, Sonia and Phelps, Nicholas (2011). Do gates negate the city? Gated communities' contribution to the urbanisation of suburbia in Pilar, Argentina. Urban Studies, 48 (16), 3487-3509. doi: 10.1177/0042098010397395
Roitman, Sonia (2011). Distincion social y habitat residencial en america Latina. Revista INVI, 26 (73), 17-71. doi: 10.4067/invi.v26i73.589
Roitman, Sonia (2011). Social distinction and residential habitat in Latin America Distinción social y hábitat residencial en américa Latina. Revista INVI, 26 (73), 17-71. doi: 10.4067/S0718-83582011000300002
Roitman, S. (2010). Gated communities: Definitions, causes and consequences. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Urban Design and Planning, 163 (1), 31-38. doi: 10.1680/udap.2010.163.1.31
Roitman, Sonia, Webster, Chris and Landman, Karina (2010). Methodological frameworks and interdisciplinary research on gated communities. International Planning Studies, 15 (1), 3-23. doi: 10.1080/13563471003736886
Roitman, Sonia (2010). A world of difference. Encountering and contesting development. European Planning Studies, 18 (8), 1343-1344. doi: 10.1080/09654311003791374
Roitman, S (2005). Who segregates whom? The analysis of a gated community in Mendoza, Argentina. Housing Studies, 20 (2), 303-321. doi: 10.1080/026730303042000331790
Roitman, Sonia (2004). Urbanizaciones cerradas: estado de la cuestion hoy y propuesta teorica. Revista de Geografía Norte Grande, 1 (32), 5-19.
Roitman, Sonia (2003). Resenas "Urban Sociology, Capitalism and Modernity" de Mike Savage, Alan Warde y Kevin Ward (2003). Eure: Revista Latinoamericana De Estudios Urbano Regionales, 29 (88), 178-180.
Roitman, Sonia (2003). Barrios cerrados y segregación social urbana. Scripta Nova: Revista electrónica de geografía y ciencias sociales, VII (146(118)).
Roitman, Sonia (2001). Las políticas habitacionales destinadas a los habitantes de villas inestables durante la década de los 90’: el caso del municipio de Guaymallén, Mendoza, Argentina.. Revista INVI, 16 (42), 95-103.
Roitman, Sonia (2000). Transformaciones urbanas en los ́90: los barrios cerrados del Area Metropolitana de Mendoza. Revista Urbana.

Conference Papers

Recio, Redento B., Roitman, Sonia and Mateo-Babiano, Iderlina (2017). Economic Spaces and Mobility Nodes: Exploring the Relationship of Urban Informal Trading to Transport and Land Use. World Symposium on Transport and Land Use Research 2017, Brisbane, Australia, 3-6 July 2017.
Johnson, Laurel and Roitman, Sonia (2014). The use of public space as an instrument for social inclusion: the case of Aboriginal and asylum seeker residents in Brisbane, Australia. World Town Planning Day: Equality in the City: Making Cities Socially Cohesive, On line conference, 5-7 November 2014.
Phelps, Nicholas A., Tarazona, Amparo and Roitman, Sonia (2014). The suburban question: grassroots politics and place making in Spanish suburbs. Conflicts in the city congress: reflections on urban unrest (SiCC), University of Valencia, Spain, 2 - 4 April 2014.
Roitman, Sonia (2014). Housing policies and governance in Indonesia: top down or bottom up? The case of PNPM in Yogyakarta. ARCHCAIRO 2014: 6th International Conference. Responsive Urbanism in Informal Areas: Towards a Regional Agenda for HABITAT III, Cairo, Egypt, 25-27 November, 2014. Cairo, Egypt: Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University.
Roitman, Sonia (2013). Rebirth from the ashes: crisis and the emergence of social movements in Argentina over the last two decades. The case of Tupac Amaru in Mendoza. RC21 Conference 2013: Resourceful cities, Berlin, Germany, 29-31 August, 2013. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Research Committee 21 (RC21).
Roitman, Sonia (2008). Planificación urbana y actores sociales intervinientes: el desarrollo de urbanizaciones cerradas. X Coloquio Internacional de Geocritica, Barcelona, Spain, 26-30 May, 2008. Barcelona, Spain: Servei de Publicacions, Universitat de Barcelona.

Video Document

Roitman, Sonia (2020). Gated community development in our cities . UN-Habitat’s Global Urban Lecture series.

Working Paper

Muriuki, Grace, Schubert, Lisa, Hussey, Karen and Roitman, Sonia (2017). Urban food systems - a renewed role for local governments in Australia. Global Change Institute, The University of Queensland.

Newspaper Articles

Roitman, Sonia (2018, 12 11). Y el Estado dónde está? Página 12
Darchen, Sebastien, Simon, Gwendal and Roitman, Sonia (2018, 05 25). When neighbourhoods become dangerous, look to local strengths for a lifeline The Conversation
Roitman, Sonia (2018, 02 09). How to use the power of urban planning to tackle inequality The Conversation

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).
Kanashiro, Maria Cristina, Roitman, S., Becerra, A., Antón, C., Jofré, C., Videla, D. and Liceda, S. (2012). Habitat y Territorio. Argentina: Agencia Provincial de Ordenamiento Territorial y el área de Planificación Estratégica, del Instituto Provincial de la Vivienda.
Roitman, Sonia (2012). Comentarios sobre Proyecto de Ley Provincial de Administración de Nuevos Sistemas Inmobiliarios. Mendoza, Argentina:
Roitman, Sonia (2012). Urbanizaciones cerradas en Mendoza. Argentina: Provincial Government of Mendoza.

Areas of research

Environmental management
Geography