Ralph Horne

Prof Ralph Horne is Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor, Research and Innovation for the College of Design and Social Context at RMIT University. He combines research leadership and participation in research projects concerning production and consumption in the urban environment. He is a geographer interested in urban sustainability, in particular, low carbon transitions in housing and households. The spatial, material and contingent social and governance structures at play are the main focus of his work. He has extensive experience of environmental techniques and sustainability appraisal and has a specific research interest in urban transitions, including socio-technical relations in the context of climate change and resource scarcity. He has led over 100 urban research projects, collaborating with researchers, cities, governments, and commercial organisations across all continents and including specifically studies of housing and development in Europe, Australasia, SE Asia and Latin America.

Ralph is immediate past Director of the Cities Programme, the urban arm of the United Nations Global Compact, which is the United Nations’ flagship corporate sustainability programme, with some 100 city signatories worldwide, committed to progressing the Sustainable Development Goals and the principles of the Global Compact. He has also held the positions of Director, Green Building Council of Australia and Council Member, Built Environment Industry Innovation Council, for the Commonwealth Government of Australia.