Paul Mees

Dr. Paul Mees (born 1961) is an Australian academic, currently serving as a senior lecturer at the school of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning at RMIT University, previously at University of Melbourne [ [http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/uni-demotes-transport-dissident/2008/05/19/1211182704265.html Melbourne Uni demotes transport dissident - National - theage.com.au ] ] . Originally a lawyer prior to becoming an academic, he lectures in statutory planning and transport planning.

He is a past President of the Public Transport Users Association in Melbourne and has been a very high-profile contributor to public debates on transport planning in Victoria over the last decade. Some of the most notable controversies involving Dr. Mees have been his legal actions attempting to prevent the construction of transport projects contrary to his views on good public transport policy. A very prominent example of this was his attempt during the late 1990s to question the legality of aspects of the largest urban infrastructure project in Australia's history, the CityLink tollway system in Melbourne [ [http://www.abc.net.au/am/stories/s253631.htm AM Archive - Victorian CityLink operator lodges compensation claim ] ] . More recently he contested the legality of the project to build a marshalling yard and a new tram "superstop" in front of the main entrance to the University of Melbourne's Parkville campus on Swanston Street.

His doctoral research was undertaken at the University of Melbourne and involved a comparison of public transport in Toronto and Melbourne. The thesis was concerned to account for the relative success of the former compared to the latter in the post-war period, given the otherwise physical and demographic similarities of the two cities.

References

* [http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/uni-demotes-transport-dissident/2008/05/19/1211182704265.html Lucas, C Uni demotes transport dissident, The Age 20 May 2008]
* [http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/going-nowhere-fast-in-car-fuel-efficiency/2008/04/27/1209234656180.html Lucas, C Going nowhere fast, The Age 27 April 2008]
* [http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s510320.htm ABC Catalyst 'the science of traffic' transcript]
* [http://upclose.unimelb.edu.au/transcript/8 Up Close interview transcript]
* [http://news.sbs.com.au/insight/archive.php?daysum=2001-05-10 SBS Television (transcript): Insight program on the real cost of paying road tolls]
* [http://www.abc.net.au/am/stories/s253631.htm ABC Radio National: Transurban to sue planning academic for compensation]
* [http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/transport-plan-labelled-too-little-too-late/2006/05/17/1147545391135.html Moynihan, S and Millar, R: Transport plan labelled too little too late]

Selected Publications

* [http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/connexs-justification-off-the-rails/2007/01/27/1169788736675.html Mees, P, The Age 28/1/07 Opinion, Connex justification off the rails]
* Mees, Paul (2000) A Very Public Solution: public transport in the dispersed city, Carlton South, Vic: Melbourne University Press (ISBN 0522848672)
* Mees, Paul (1996) Do public choice and public transport mix? An Australian-Canadian comparison, Canberra. A.C.T. : Urban Research Program, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University (ISBN 073152517)

External links

* [http://www.rmit.com.au/browse;ID=m6y24xgvy6as Paul Mees' staff webpage at RMIT]
* [http://www.smithstreet.org/cag/expert_opinions/paul_mees.php Paul Mees paper on Melbourne 2030 ]
* [http://210.15.220.118/ewlna_submissions/EastWestResponse_160708_PaulMees(Doctor).pdf Does Melbourne need another central city rail tunnel? (Response to Sir Rod Eddington East West Needs Assessment)]