Michele Acuto

Director of the Connected Cities Lab, University of Melbourne

Michele Acuto is director of the Connected Cities Lab, Professor in Urban Politics and Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. He is an expert in international urban development.

Michele is also a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and member of Fondation Botnar’s expert commission. Before joining the Faculty, Michele was Director of the City Leadership Lab and Professor of Diplomacy and Urban Theory at University College London, having previously worked as Stephen Barter Fellow of the Oxford Programme for the Future of Cities at the University of Oxford. He also taught at the University of Canberra, University of Southern California, Australian National University and National University of Singapore. Outside academia, Michele worked for the Institute of European Affairs in Dublin, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), the Kimberley Process for conflict diamonds, the European Commission’s response to pandemic threats. He also has worked for several years on city leadership and city networks with, amongst others, Arup, World Health Organization, World Bank Group, the C40 Climate Leadership Group, and UN-Habitat. In 2018-19 he co-chaired the Nature Sustainability International Expert Panel on “science and the future of cities”.

Michele is the author of several articles, publications and policy documents on urban governance, international politics and urban development challenges.