Dr Sophie-May Kerr is an urban cultural geographer, who uses social research methods to better understand lived experiences of housing, home and neighbourhood transformation. Sophie-May is particularly interested in socio-material experiences of apartment living. She completed her PhD titled ‘Dwelling in discordant spaces: Material and emotional geographies of parenting in apartments’ at the University of Wollongong in 2020. She joined the City Futures team as a Research Associate in 2021.
Alongside her academic career, Sophie-May has extensive experience in community engagement and project leadership in the non-profit sector. Working in refugee settlement support, Sophie-May has worked across a variety of program areas including employment and training, education, youth leadership and social inclusion. Sophie-May has co-designed cultural capacity training for businesses and schools, and is an advocate for equitable and inclusive communities.
, 2017, 'Malleable homes and mutual possessions: Caring and sharing in extended family households as a resource for survival', in Sharing Economies in Times of Crisis: Practices, Politics and Possibilities, pp. 35 - 49, http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315660646
, 2024, 'The regulation of families with children in apartments', Housing Studies, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2024.2313591
, 2023, 'Assembling high-rise: The uneven agencies of air in suburban densification in the Anthropocene', Urban Studies, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00420980231205026
, 2023, 'Suburban densification: unpacking the misalignment between resident demand and investor-driven supply of multi-unit housing in Sydney, Australia', Australian Planner, 59, pp. 26 - 38, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07293682.2023.2197604
, 2022, 'Planning for Lower‐Income Households in Privately Developed High‐Density Neighbourhoods in Sydney, Australia', Urban Planning, 7, pp. 213 - 228, http://dx.doi.org/10.17645/up.v7i4.5699
, 2021, 'Barriers to and enablers of sustainable practices: insights from ethnic minority migrants', Local Environment, 26, pp. 595 - 614, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2021.1904856
, 2021, 'From backyards to balconies: cultural norms and parents’ experiences of home in higher-density housing', Housing Studies, 36, pp. 421 - 443, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2019.1709625
, 2018, 'Diverse driving emotions: Exploring Chinese migrants' mobilities in a car-dependent city', Transfers, 8, pp. 23 - 43, http://dx.doi.org/10.3167/TRANS.2018.080203
, 2018, 'Parenting and neighbouring in the consolidating city: The emotional geographies of sound in apartments', Emotion, Space and Society, 26, pp. 1 - 8, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2017.11.002
, 2016, 'Gender, ethnicity and sustainable mobility: a governmentality analysis of migrant Chinese women’s daily trips in Sydney', Applied Mobilities, 1, pp. 68 - 84, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23800127.2016.1147751
, 2015, 'Ethnically Diverse Transport Behaviours: An Australian Perspective', Geographical Research, 53, pp. 393 - 405, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1745-5871.12118
, 2023, Housing Suitability Literature Review, UNSW
, 2023, My Place Ashmore Community Survey 2023 Final report, https://cityfutures.ada.unsw.edu.au/my-place-local-community-survey-2023/
, 2023, MyPlace Green Square Community Survey 2023 Final Report, https://cityfutures.ada.unsw.edu.au/my-place-local-community-survey-2023/
, 2023, Regional NSW Housing Metrics - Consultation report