Caring for thoroughbreds: addressing social, economic and welfare issues in international horse racing. Horse racing is an economically valuable industry but visible welfare issues are challenging its future. This study addresses perceptions and the economic worth of these issues internationally. Research findings about values, and alternatives to jump racing and whipping horses, will help change the conduct of horse racing around the world.
The drowned: cultural and political geographies. This project aims to reveal and critically analyse the geographies of drowning and the drowned. Drowning is the third most common cause of death worldwide, and a subject of universal interest that is relatively limited in specifically cultural and political geographical research, policy, and debate. The project will be significant by rectifying that gap and investigating shared concerns about drowning’s abiding, widespread, profound effects. The e ....The drowned: cultural and political geographies. This project aims to reveal and critically analyse the geographies of drowning and the drowned. Drowning is the third most common cause of death worldwide, and a subject of universal interest that is relatively limited in specifically cultural and political geographical research, policy, and debate. The project will be significant by rectifying that gap and investigating shared concerns about drowning’s abiding, widespread, profound effects. The expected outcomes will include public debate about drowning and its cultural and political reach and management generated from a book, articles, and blog. Benefits will include new fundamental knowledge and practical insights about how to rethink risks and disasters in rapidly changing environments.Read moreRead less
Privatising neighbourhoods? Governance and social life in master-planned residential estates. Australian residential neighbourhoods are changing in the face of growing privatisation and privatism, with major implications for the strength of the social and economic fabric of cities. Master planned residential estates are emblematic of this change. This project empirically investigates the extent and nature of privatisation and privatism in these new residential environments. It will provide a rig ....Privatising neighbourhoods? Governance and social life in master-planned residential estates. Australian residential neighbourhoods are changing in the face of growing privatisation and privatism, with major implications for the strength of the social and economic fabric of cities. Master planned residential estates are emblematic of this change. This project empirically investigates the extent and nature of privatisation and privatism in these new residential environments. It will provide a rigorous analysis necessary to growing national debates about creating and sustaining urban social cohesion, and on the importance of social ties between people for producing a more prosperous Australia.Read moreRead less
Island Communities, Island Rhetoric: Sustainable Development and the Global Promise? The challenge to integrate economic development, social equity and environmental care intensifies on small islands. This research focuses on Tasmania, peripheral island state of Australia, sometimes typified as ?regional basket-case?. The aim is to examine how Tasmanians understand and accommodate the paradoxes of sustainable development (demanding new forms of ecological citizenship) and globalisation (based on ....Island Communities, Island Rhetoric: Sustainable Development and the Global Promise? The challenge to integrate economic development, social equity and environmental care intensifies on small islands. This research focuses on Tasmania, peripheral island state of Australia, sometimes typified as ?regional basket-case?. The aim is to examine how Tasmanians understand and accommodate the paradoxes of sustainable development (demanding new forms of ecological citizenship) and globalisation (based on conservative consumer-citizenship). Both deeply influence core government policy as well as formal and informal institutional life and language. Drawing on cultural geography and political ecology, the research will enhance theory and policy discussions about island regions, local communities and governance, sustainability and social change.Read moreRead less
Urban greening to protect vulnerable people and promote thermal equity. This project aims to create, test and apply new knowledge to promote thermal equity in Australian cities. Climate change is increasing heatwave frequency and intensity as our cities are becoming denser and their populations growing older. Many older people have heightened vulnerability to extreme heat due to income constraints, medical conditions, physical frailty, and reduced mobility. Outputs will include a heat vulnerabil ....Urban greening to protect vulnerable people and promote thermal equity. This project aims to create, test and apply new knowledge to promote thermal equity in Australian cities. Climate change is increasing heatwave frequency and intensity as our cities are becoming denser and their populations growing older. Many older people have heightened vulnerability to extreme heat due to income constraints, medical conditions, physical frailty, and reduced mobility. Outputs will include a heat vulnerability assessment index for identifying at-risk places and vulnerable people, urban tree canopy maps, urban planning policy guidelines for creating cooler cities, and a toolkit for identifying appropriate green infrastructure treatments. Benefits include avoidance of heat-related deaths and improved liveability in cities.Read moreRead less
Geographies of house and contents under-insurance. This project aims to analyse house and contents insurance to advance strategic disaster management. When natural disasters strike, house and contents insurance provides a safety net, but many households are under-insured or not insured at all. Governments and communities tend to bear the costs, but the geographies of inadequate insurance, including any crucial post-disaster effects, are unknown. This research is expected to strategically improve ....Geographies of house and contents under-insurance. This project aims to analyse house and contents insurance to advance strategic disaster management. When natural disasters strike, house and contents insurance provides a safety net, but many households are under-insured or not insured at all. Governments and communities tend to bear the costs, but the geographies of inadequate insurance, including any crucial post-disaster effects, are unknown. This research is expected to strategically improve disaster policy and practice, and reduce the financial and social costs of disasters to governments, communities and householders.Read moreRead less
Mapping the effect of social enterprise on regional city disadvantage. This project aims to explore how social enterprises affect wellbeing and community capacity in disadvantaged areas of regional cities. Governments increasingly invest in social enterprise to benefit individuals and places. This project will use a spatial methodology to map where and how benefits are realised. To date, robust evidence about how social enterprise affects disadvantage is lacking, partly due to inadequate researc ....Mapping the effect of social enterprise on regional city disadvantage. This project aims to explore how social enterprises affect wellbeing and community capacity in disadvantaged areas of regional cities. Governments increasingly invest in social enterprise to benefit individuals and places. This project will use a spatial methodology to map where and how benefits are realised. To date, robust evidence about how social enterprise affects disadvantage is lacking, partly due to inadequate research methodology. This project expects to provide web-based design tools and applications to assist regional city communities and councils in the development of social enterprises that can help disadvantaged people and places.Read moreRead less
Encounters with Urban Nature in Australia: An investigation into environmental values, anti-urbanism, multiculturalism, and the transition to urban sustainability. This project offers strategic basic and applied research approaches to overcoming the neglect of moral experience of ?nature? in urban environments so as to further the transition to sustainability in Australia. Working at the intersection of aesthetic, geographical, philosophical, and sociological studies of ecology, this project dev ....Encounters with Urban Nature in Australia: An investigation into environmental values, anti-urbanism, multiculturalism, and the transition to urban sustainability. This project offers strategic basic and applied research approaches to overcoming the neglect of moral experience of ?nature? in urban environments so as to further the transition to sustainability in Australia. Working at the intersection of aesthetic, geographical, philosophical, and sociological studies of ecology, this project develops a comparative qualitative study of three Australian cities. It explores: (1) the paradoxical appeal of anti-urban environmental values to urbanites; (2) the multicultural axis of diversity in urban environmental values; (3) political sites for contesting experiences of ?nature?; and (4) policy opportunities for expression of local synergies between social and biotic well-being in urban ecosystems.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200441
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$289,479.00
Summary
Enabling cultures of bushfire readiness in Australian communities. This project aims to improve bushfire preparation by examining how cultural connections to landscape, place and community affect the ways in which people respond to information about bushfire hazards. Australia’s Black Summer showed that many households are inadequately prepared for the ‘new normal’ of faster, fiercer fires. This is particularly concerning on the urban fringe, where rapid development is changing landscapes, and h ....Enabling cultures of bushfire readiness in Australian communities. This project aims to improve bushfire preparation by examining how cultural connections to landscape, place and community affect the ways in which people respond to information about bushfire hazards. Australia’s Black Summer showed that many households are inadequately prepared for the ‘new normal’ of faster, fiercer fires. This is particularly concerning on the urban fringe, where rapid development is changing landscapes, and households face complex socio-economic challenges. The study aims to contribute to the safety of Australians by enabling emergency services to more effectively engage diverse communities in dialogue that promotes bushfire readiness, by connecting with place-based values, aspirations and behaviours.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354531
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,000.00
Summary
Social research network for sustainable rural communities. The triple bottom line of social, economic and environmental imperatives forms the accepted ingredients of sustainability. While the economic and environmental dimensions have been relatively well researched, there is insufficient understanding of the socio-cultural dimensions and how these determine environmental and health outcomes. The interactions between the dimensions are also poorly understood. While there are some researchers in ....Social research network for sustainable rural communities. The triple bottom line of social, economic and environmental imperatives forms the accepted ingredients of sustainability. While the economic and environmental dimensions have been relatively well researched, there is insufficient understanding of the socio-cultural dimensions and how these determine environmental and health outcomes. The interactions between the dimensions are also poorly understood. While there are some researchers in this field, they have tended to work in isolation. The development of a resourced interdisciplinary network to facilitate collaboration will increase the contribution and innovativeness of their collective research and contribute to understanding socio-economic determinants of dynamic regions and healthy rural communities.Read moreRead less