A popular video game was the catalyst for an exciting career path for Sam Austin, who graduated from Macquarie in 2020 with a Bachelor of Planning.
“After high school I studied animation at another university but wasn’t really enjoying it. While I was studying, the new SimCity game was released and I played it for six weeks straight and thought 'Wow, how can I do this for a job?’'," Sam says.
Sam decided he wanted to pursue a Bachelor of Planning and chose to do his degree at Macquarie because of the strong environmental focus of the coursework.
While at Macquarie, Sam began working part time as a junior planner for a large project management firm, then later moved on to work for a niche consulting firm that specialised in residential development.
“I found that role through the Macquarie Student Planning Association and that massively helped both my coursework and of course employment opportunities afterwards,” Sam says.
“I stepped straight into a more senior role after working for two-and-a-half years as a student planner.”
Sam’s next role was at the Hills Shire Council working as part of their strategic planning team across the Hills council area and Norwest business park.
“I was doing really detailed population analysis, understanding the land use out there and really getting involved in local policy and legislation,” Sam says.
“The Metro had just been built when I joined as well, so they were at the forefront of a lot of planning out there.”
Planning for the future
Sam currently works in the private sector as a Senior Urban Planner at JOC Consulting, a role that challenges him and allows him to further pursue his passions.
“We focus heavily on community engagement, which is fantastic – it's what I absolutely love and am really passionate about,” he says.
“This is complimented by our strategic urban planning work. Strategic planning is about looking at the next 20 years, understanding trends and forecasts. It's also about understanding how we're planning for population growth and responding to employment patterns.”
I found that role through the Macquarie Student Planning Association and that massively helped both my coursework and of course employment opportunities afterwards.
John O’Callaghan is Sam’s manager and the Director at JOC Consulting. When hiring new staff, he says he looks for graduates who possess not only a deep understanding of urban planning principles, but also a passion for creating vibrant, sustainable and community-focused urban spaces.
“When Sam applied, we all liked him straight away. He had prepared for the interview and we were impressed by the way he could respond to a question using best-practice urban planning frameworks but also his own analysis and gut feel,” he says.
“His past experience working for a council but also in the private sector was also seen as valuable for the many different projects we work on at JOC Consulting.
“Over the years, Sam has consistently demonstrated leadership, strong analytical skills and excellent project management. He has also facilitated many conversations with the community to seek their input before making any urban planning recommendations.”
Sam is the recipient of the 2022 NSW Young Planner of the Year and recently delivered a talk at TEDx Youth Sydney 2023 on building liveable cities for young people.
“TEDx was such an amazing experience and it really resonated with people. They were like, ‘Yeah, why can't I live near my friends and family? Why can't I live near where I grew up? It's not really fair that I'm forced to live two hours away from everyone and everything," he says.
“A detached house on the fringes of Sydney shouldn’t be the only option. It's just about giving people choice. It's allowing them to pick what [type of dwelling] they'd like to live in and respond to their lifestyle stage as well."
John says the team is proud of Sam and his achievements, and his work on multiple planning projects across New South Wales and Queensland.
“His work around urban heat and the night economy is cutting edge and his passion for good planning is contagious. Sam is definitely a Macquarie alumni to watch.”
My Macquarie life
Degree: Bachelor of Planning. Graduated 2020.
My job: Senior Urban Planner, JOC Consulting
Three ways MQ supported me to be job-ready:
1. PACE Units. “PACE (Professional and Community Engagement program) gives you the freedom to really pursue what you’re interested in and research your passion areas, which is really unique. I took the detailed problem-solving approach [I developed] to use in my employment directly.”
2. Professional networks and support. “The lecturers were really supportive and happy to be referees when I was applying for jobs. That interpersonal connection was a massive help in terms of being job-ready.”
3. Research opportunities. “The chance to do proper research and community engagement was really helpful. One of my lecturers, Linda Kelly, had such great real-world experience and passed on a lot of industry knowledge to students.”
How I apply what I learned at Macquarie in the workplace:
“The community engagement component was really helpful. For one subject we were proposing an alternative design to the Macquarie courtyard, and then doing consultation with students and understanding their feelings and attachment to the place. [We took] the bottom-up approach of, ‘What do you value about the space? What do you need from this space? What isn't working at the moment? How can we better improve it for the future?’ That was a direct application of what I do right now.”
Advice to prospective students:
“If you have an interest in planning, whether it's transport, resilience or climate adaptation, really push and pursue it. You should reach out to specific people who are doing really cool stuff, or companies being proactive in that space, that proactive networking really stands to benefit you.”
