Taylor Coyne is a Sydney-based geographer, design researcher and writer working across landscape theory, environmental humanities and creative practice.
His work explores the physical, cultural and experiential dimensions of landscape, bringing together geographical inquiry, environmental history, design and the creative arts. His interests range from geology, hydrology and ecological processes to the histories, memories and sensory experiences through which people come to know and inhabit their environments.
Taylor's academic background spans physical and human geography. His doctoral research at UNSW examines Sydney's stormwater infrastructures and their entanglement with the environmental and political histories of settler colonialism. Through his ongoing research project, Swamp City, he investigates the city's overlooked waterways, wetlands and urban ecologies, tracing their histories and exploring their significance for contemporary understandings of landscape.
Alongside his research, Taylor teaches landscape architecture at UNSW and works across architectural, landscape and urban design projects. His interdisciplinary practice draws on geographical knowledge, environmental research, cultural histories and creative inquiry to inform place-based design and spatial thinking.
Writing, drawing, photography and fieldwork are central to his approach. He is particularly drawn to the sensory and atmospheric qualities of landscape, exploring how darkness, sound, weather, materiality and movement shape human experience and relationships with place. His broader intellectual interests encompass philosophy, environmental aesthetics, cultural geography and the imaginative possibilities of landscape.
Across his research, teaching and creative practice, Taylor is concerned with how landscapes are formed, experienced, understood and imagined, and how these different ways of knowing might inform their future transformation.
hello@taylorcoyne.com Bidjigal Country
South Coogee 2034
Experience
EDUCATION
Doctor of Philosophy (Human Geography) 2020 – 2026| The University of New South Wales
Master of Environmental Management 2019 | The University of New South Wales
Bachelor of Science (Geography) (First Class Honours) 2018 | The University of New South Wales
Bachelor of Arts (Indigenous Studies & Development Studies) 2017 | The University of New South Wales
Bachelor of Visual Arts (Distinction) 2011 | The University of Sydney
ACADEMIC/TEACHING APPOINTMENTS
The University of New South Wales (2018 - ongoing, sessional)
Monash University (2021 - guest)
The University of Technology Sydney (2023 - ongoing, guest)
The National Institute of Dramatic Arts (2024 - ongoing, guest)
Publications and Presentations
PUBLICATIONS
T Coyne, 2024, ‘Reimaging Urban Design of Stormwater Infrastructure in Settler-Colonial Sydney’, Geographical Research, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1745- 5871.12645
N'Arwee't C. Briggs, Buckley, J., Chesworth, D., Coyne, T., Farr, A., Harper, L., Ho, X., Heyns, A.L., Leber, S., Melo Zurita, M.d.L., Raby, O., 2023, 'Listen - Look up! Listen - Look down! Experiencing the counter-city through a sonic and augmented reality experience of urban undergrounds in southeast Melbourne', Cities, Vol. 142, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2023.104513
T Coyne, 2023, ‘Emily O’Gorman, Wetlands in a Dry Land: More-than-Human Histories of Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin’, Journal of Australian, Canadian, and Aotearoa New Zealand Studies 3 (September 2023): 187-188, https://doi.org/10.52230/OULV3524
T Coyne, 2023, 'Listen Deep to Subterranean Kinfrastructures', Swamphen: Journal of Cultural Ecology Vol.9 https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/Swamphen
N Naserisafavi, Coyne, T, Melo Zurita, M, Zhang, K & Prodanovic, V, 2022, 'Community values on governing urban water nature-based solutions in Sydney, Australia', Journal of Environmental Management, Vol.322, No.15, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.116063
T Coyne 2022, 'Queering the Swamp', Succession Vol.2 Queering the Environment, Network in Canadian History & Environment (Nouvelle initiative Canadienne en histoire de l'environnement), https://niche-canada.org/2022/06/27/queering-the-swamp/
T Coyne, 2021, review of Country by Bruce Pascoe and Bill Gamage, ed. Margo Neale, The Conversation https://theconversation.com/book-review-country-is-an-urgent-call-to-learnfrom-indigenous-knowledges-to-care-for-the-land-172142
Coyne, T., Melo Zurita, M., Reid, D., and Prodanovic, V. 2020, 'Culturally inclusive water urban design: a critical history of hydrosocial infrastructures in Southern
CONFERENCE PAPERS, TALKS AND PRESENTATIONS
Common Infrastructure Symposium 2020 | The University of Sydney - Georges River beyond the pipes: a political ecology of stormwater infrastructure in Sydney’s Georges River
Geography Society of New South Wales Honours/Masters Research Conference 2020 | The University of New South Wales - Methods and tactics for crafting regenerative futures (Guest panel member)
Strange/Letters Symposium 2021 | The Association for the Study of Literature, Environment & Culture – Australia & New Zealand - Correspondence with cities
Connected Waters Initiative Annual Retreat 2021 | The University of New South Wales - Deep listening to Eora waters - An analysis of Sydney’s hydrosocial soundscapes
The Institute of Australian Geographers Annual Conference 2021 | The University of Sydney - Settler-Colonial Hydraulic Urban Design in Sydney’s Kamay Swamplands
The Royal Geographical Society – Institute of British Geographers Annual International Conference 2021 | London/Online - Sydney’s Subterranean Hydrostructures - abandoned train tunnels and the eels of Lake St James Station
Festival of Urbanism 2021 | The University of Sydney & Monash University, Melbourne - Hidden, underground stories of a watery city
State of Australian Cities (SOAC) PhD Symposium 2021 | Australasian Early Career Urban Research Network, RMIT Melbourne - Silent Waterscapes: Water, Infrastructure and Sound in the City
Subterranean Geography in Australia 2022 | The University of New South Wales - Queer Ecologies of Sydney’s Subterranean Waterscapes
The American Association of Geographers Annual Conference 2022 Online - Voices of the Queer Ecologies of Sydney’s Volumetric Waterscapes
Australian & Aotearoa NZ Environmental History Network 2022 American Environmental History Week - Panelist, Roundtable: New Approaches to Environmental Histories of Water Ecologies
The Australian Historical Association Annual Conference 2022 | Deakin University - Panelist: Environmental History and Environmental Humanities, Interdisciplinary Conversations
The Institute of Australian Geographers Annual Conference 2022 | The University of New England - Queering the Swamp
The American Association of Geographers Annual Conference 2023 Online - The Vibrant Soundscapes of Sydney’s Subterranean Water Kinfrastructures
Re-orientations: New Social Roles for the Architecture Professions|School of Architecture, University of Technology Sydney - Swamp City: Queer Ecology of Sydney’s Swampscapes
The Institute of Australian Geographers Annual Conference 2024 | The University of Adelaide - Eel City
History Now: State Library of New South Wales 2024 - More-than-human histories
The Institute of Australian Geographers Annual Conference 2025 | The University of Newcastle - Sensing the Swamp
Watertalks 2025 | Tin Sheds Gallery - The University of Sydney
Deep Place - Earth and Ocean Entanglements 2025 | Floorplan Studio
EXHIBITIONS
Seoul Biennale of Architect and Urbanism, 2023, ‘Hidden Rippon Lee’
Venice Architecture Biennale, 2023, in ‘Unsettling Queenstown’, Australian Pavilion, ‘Hidden Rippon Lee’
Melbourne Design Week, 2023, ‘Hidden Rippon Lea’
PRIZES AND FUNDING
Dean List for Academic Excellence Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The University of New South Wales 2020
Best Performance in Master of Environmental Management, UNSW Winner, The Orica Ronnie Harding Award –2020
The Geographical Society of New South Wales 2021 Symposium Grant - Awarded $4800 to facilitate a unique scholarly symposium related to subterranean geographical research in Australia.
Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) 2020-2023 - Awarded $26,288 annually, for a period of three years.
Casual Staff Teaching Award 2021 The University of New South Wales; School of Humanities & Languages - in recognition of outstanding contributions to learning and teaching.
People’s Choice Award, UNSW Education Festival 2022, Session Empowering Students to be Agents of Change - ‘Pluriversal Futures, in Action - Empowering Critical Thinking for Regenerative Development’