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Paul Mees (20 March 1961 – 19 June 2013) was an Australian academic, specialising in
urban planning
Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
and
public transport
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...
.
Mees died on 19 June 2013, 14 months after the diagnosis of kidney cancer. He was 52. At the time of his death he was an associate professor in the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies at
RMIT University
RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city ...
.
A committed educator and prolific researcher, Mees was also well known outside academic circles for his advocacy and activism in support of public transport as a means of sustainable transport, particularly in urban areas. In both his campaigning and academic work Mees confronted powerful interests, questioned the status quo and challenged common community perceptions of good policy and practice – often courting controversy. It was the distinctive fusion of his achievements as a scholar and as an activist that set Mees apart from many of his academic peers.
Shortly after his death, Senator Penny Wright, a fellow law student and debating colleague, paid tribute to Mees in the Australian Senate. More recently he was recognised for his achievements in the Australia Day Honours of 2014, posthumously awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for "service to public transport and urban planning as an academic and advocate for creating sustainable cities".
Scholarship
Mees began his professional career as a lawyer in the mid 1980s. Having graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the University of Melbourne, he was admitted to practice as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria. He practised mostly in industrial relations law, first at Melbourne law firm Gill Kane & Co and later at Maurice Blackburn.
[
In the early 1990s Mees left the law to return to study, his doctoral research at the University of Melbourne involving a comparison of public transport in ]Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
and Melbourne, and his thesis accounted 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. He gained his PhD in 1997. His thesis, which was later published under the title ''A Very Public Solution'' is considered an authoritative text in the field.[
After a period as a research fellow at the Australian National University's Urban Research Program, in 1998 Mees returned to the ]University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...
to teach and research. In 2008, amid a public furore over academic independence, he was demoted by the university. Its key complaint related to public criticisms Mees had made about state government officials, although a subsequent investigation dismissed the university's complaints.[ By that time, however, Mees had resigned to take up an appointment at RMIT University. Promoted to associate professor in 2012,][ Mees researched and taught at RMIT until his death.
Mees's work was principally concerned with the planning of public transport in cities. He was a strong advocate for public transport, but less keen on urban bicycles as a realistic mass transport solution. His work provided the basis for the European Union's 2005 HiTrans project on improving public transport in medium-sized cities and towns. He was also a member of the international advisory council for Paris's New Mobility Agenda Project. His most recent research was on planning decision support tools for multimodal urban transport systems, and improvements to urban public transport planning in Australia.
]
Activism
With an early interest in environmental and social justice issues, Mees studied environmental law as part of his undergraduate degree. In the 1980s his interests segued to a focus on sustainable transport, and he became involved in public transport advocacy through the Public Transport Users Association
The Public Transport Users Association is a community-based public transport lobby group in Victoria, Australia, based in Melbourne. It is run entirely by volunteers and has no full-time staff.
History and aims
The organisation was founded ...
in Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, becoming president of the organisation from 1992 to 2001.
Mees was a provocative and articulate contributor to public debates on transport planning
Transportation planning is the process of defining future policies, goals, investments, and spatial planning designs to prepare for future needs to move people and goods to destinations. As practiced today, it is a collaborative process that i ...
in Victoria, Australia
Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...
over three decades, and arguably the best-known authority on public transport and urban planning in Australia. In addition to the many public platforms he shared with experts and commentators, Mees was a sought-after media spokesperson, making hundreds of appearances in both print and electronic media around Australia over the decades. Only a month before he died he was interviewed on ABC TV's ''7.30
''7.30'' is an Australian nightly television current affairs program which broadcasts on ABC and ABC News at on Monday to Thursday nights. The program is currently hosted by Sarah Ferguson.
History
The program first aired on 7 March 2011, re ...
''.
Among the notable activist projects with which Mees involved himself were legal actions attempting to prevent the construction of expensive transport projects contrary to his views on what constituted good public transport
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...
policy. In the late 1990s he questioned the legality of aspects of the largest urban infrastructure project in Australia's history, the CityLink
CityLink is a network of tollways in Melbourne, Australia, linking the Tullamarine, West Gate and Monash Freeways and incorporating Bolte Bridge, Burnley Tunnel and other works. In 1996, Transurban was awarded the contract to augment two ex ...
tollway system in Melbourne. Mees unsuccessfully contested the building of 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
Swanston Street is a major thoroughfare in the centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is one of the main streets of the Melbourne central business district and was laid out in 1837 as part of the original Hoddle Grid. The street vertically ...
, and opposed the building of the proposed Melbourne Metro Rail Project
The Metro Tunnel (previously known during planning as the Melbourne Metro Rail Project) is a metropolitan rail infrastructure project currently under construction in Melbourne, Australia. It includes the construction of twin 9-kilometre rail tun ...
tunnel under the centre of Melbourne, on the grounds that much less expensive options are available to boost capacity on the Melbourne suburban rail network. In the early 2000s he also helped to establish the short-lived Public Transport First Party in Victoria, which campaigned in selected electorates on transport-related issues.[
In his final months, although seriously ill, Mees persisted in his campaigning endeavours. In 2013 he questioned the quality of research behind the Victorian Government's proposed east–west tunnel link in Melbourne's inner northern suburbs, recording a video presentation for a major public meeting a week before his death.
]
Debating
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Mees was an active member of the Australian debating community. He debated in competition from schools level, through university, to adult level. Mees served on the Executive of the Debaters Association of Victoria, adjudicated schools competition, and participated in selection and training of the Victorian Schools Debating Team. As an adult, he represented Victoria at the National Debating Championships, and was a member of the winning team in Hobart in 1992.
Personal
In 1988 Mees married journalist, academic and teacher Erica Cervini.[
Mees died in Melbourne on 19 June 2013, aged 52.] Mees was survived by Cervini; his mother Roma and father Tom, a retired barrister specialising in industrial relations law; and his three younger brothers – Peter (also a lawyer), Bernard (also an RMIT academic), and Stephen.
Selected publications
* 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 ()
* Mees, Paul (2000) ''A Very Public Solution: public transport in the dispersed city'', Carlton South, Vic: Melbourne University Press ()
* Mees, Paul (2009) ''Transport for Suburbia: Beyond the Automobile Age'', Earthscan ()
Notes
Further reading and external links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mees, Paul
Australian activists
RMIT University faculty
Public transport in Melbourne
20th-century Australian lawyers
1961 births
2013 deaths
Academics from Melbourne
Australian urban planners
Deaths from cancer
Deaths from cancer in Victoria (Australia)
21st-century Australian lawyers