Jessica Kotselas

About Jessica

Most kids are fascinated by iPads and Play-Doh. As a youngster, Jessica Kotselas was fascinated by buildings.

Fast forward 20+ years and Jessica is now a senior urban planner at built environment consultancy Ethos Urban. Her career is the result of both her childhood interests and the years of study she put in at UTS, first in the Bachelor of Property Economics and then in the Master of Planning.

It was in the Bachelor of Property Economics that Jessica’s interest in urban planning was first piqued. She knew she wanted to pursue a career in property, and like many of her peers, she’d always imagined working as a developer.

But in Urban Planning and Development Process, a second-year subject in the bachelor’s degree, she realised her property career might lie down a different path.  

“The planning subjects were always the subjects I enjoyed the most and excelled in the most, and when we did group assignments, I always offered to do the planning part,” she says.  

I like the principles of how people and spaces work together and how through planning you can create these built objects that can make people’s lives better.  

So then I thought, if I’m enjoying this so much, maybe this is the pathway I should be going down.

After finishing her bachelor’s degree, Jessica knew she needed more specialised planning knowledge to get ahead in her chosen field. Progressing into the UTS Master of Planning made sense — the degree was flexible, with options for block learning and evening classes, an acknowledgement that many postgraduate students juggle study with full-time work.  

Why UTS?

At the time, Jessica was already working as a graduate planner at Ethos Urban, and she wanted to continue ticking off her career goals while she studied. She also knew a master’s degree would help her fast-track her career progression, and the UTS course offered a lot of the same perks that she’d enjoyed during her undergraduate studies.  

I knew some of the lecturers, and I know I was going to learn a lot because UTS has really good industry connections — they bring in a lot of really good external people to come and speak on different topics.  

The master’s content reflected the broader UTS commitment to practical learning, via the application of theoretical knowledge to a range of industry-relevant projects. For Jessica, these included developing full planning proposals for urban renewal and greenfield sites — activities that now form part of her day-to-day work at Urban Ethos.  

In fact, she says, the crossover between uni and work has added immeasurable value.  

“Everything I did at work helped me so much with uni and vice versa,” she says.  

“My work certainly benefitted from me being at uni — I was up to date with theory and best practice — and I think uni benefitted from me having a job in the sector because every time we did an assignment, I could practically relate it to something I’ve done at work.”  

To date, Jessica has applied her planning expertise to projects such as the UTS Indigenous Residential College Master Plan, Green Square Town Centre and various residential, commercial and industrial development applications for clients in both the public and private sector.  

What's next?

And, after years spent imagining what a planning career would be like, the reality is even better still.

“I’m really enjoying it, and I’m really happy with the path I’ve taken to get here. Planning is a great, fast-growing industry,” she says.  

“The NSW planning system is complex and ever-changing, and the work is really rewarding. It can be hard at times, but it’s so varied and so broad that you come to work every day and learn something new.”