Rate My Professor Heather Shearer

Dr. Heather Shearer is a Lecturer (Teaching Focused) in GIS and Urban Planning in the School of Engineering and Built Environment at Griffith University. She also holds the position of Research Fellow at the Cities Research Institute and is a member of the Green Infrastructure Research Labs (GIRLS). Her research specializations include the tiny house movement in Australia, with a focus on land use and local government planning, drivers, motivations, and sustainability. She employs GIS modelling and deep learning for spatial analysis of recreation walkability, value uplift from transport infrastructure and greenspace, general demographic analysis, and climate change impacts on the built environment. She teaches a range of courses in planning, including convening Development Processes Studio (2067ENV), and supervises postgraduate students.

Dr. Shearer's academic background comprises a PhD in Environment from Griffith University (2009–2012), a Masters of Environmental Management from the same institution in 2009, and earlier studies at the University of Cape Town in 1996. Key publications feature the peer-reviewed article 'Tiny houses: movement or moment?' in Housing Studies (2023, co-authored with Paul Burton), 'Towards a Typology of Tiny Houses' (2019), the chapter 'Tiny Houses: An Interactive Approach' in Greening Affordable Housing (2019), and 'Conducting Survey Research' in Methods in Urban Analysis (2021). She co-edited State of Australian Cities Conference 2015: Refereed Proceedings (2015) with Paul Burton. In recognition of her early research, she received the PhD Scholar award at the State of Australian Cities Conference in 2011. Her work, with over 500 citations across 26 publications, informs urban planning policy, housing affordability, and sustainable development discussions.