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Dr Paul Maginn, Program Coordinator for the Masters of Urban and Regional Planning at the School of Earth and Environment, has always been interested in contentious urban issues.

“From an academic perspective most of my research has looked into contentious and challenging policy issues. Sectarianism amongst young children in Northern Ireland, homelessness in London, racist attitudes amongst children and within the Police, and urban regeneration in multicultural neighbourhoods,” Paul says.

Now in his 10th year at UWA, Paul joined the University in 2007when the undergrad and postgrad planning programs were first established.

“When I took on the program co-ordinator role, my focus was very much on developing the curriculum and building links with the professional planning community here in Perth so students were exposed to both the academic and practical aspects of urban and regional planning.

“It was also my responsibility to build the profile and reputation of the program, and over the ten years, it has certainly developed into a well-recognised, well-regarded program,” he says.

As a ‘geographer-planner’, Dr Maginn is fundamentally interested in the where, how and why certain land-uses, groups and communities occupy space and the politics and regulations that tend to surround them.

His latest book Su(burban) Sexscapes: Geographies and Regulation of the Sex Industry , is no exception and brings together a range of Australian and international scholars on the geography and regulation of various aspects of the commercial sex industry.

“I think it’s important to recognise that the city is a sexual space. As such, to develop good public policy, it’s vital from a planning perspective to understand the contours of commercial sex venues and practices as well as sexuality within society more broadly. Prohibiting or banning consensual commercial sex practices, or venues such as sex shops or strip clubs are likely to fail,” he says.

Paul co-edited Su(burban) Sexscapes with Dr Christine Steinmetz from the University of NSW, winning the Planning Institute of Australia’s (PIA) national Cutting Edge Research and Teaching award last month.

“The book highlights a diverse range of aspects of the sex industry and we put forward a number of different policy ideas and recommendations framed within a more mature approach to commercial sexuality,” he says.

“It was great to have our work recognised by the PIA but it’s really just the tip of the iceberg and I’m already working on another book proposal - Sex in the City: Gender, Justice and Regulation with two UK colleagues, Dr Emily Cooper (UCLAN) and Dr Martin Zebracki (Leeds).

Read Dr Maginn's latest ABC interview here .