Connecting Government to Community: A study of social and political connectivity at the municipal level. Facilitating community strengthening by making public institutions more responsive to the needs of citizens is a central policy challenge in the global era. This project will advance theoretical, methodological and practical understandings of this issue by using comparative measures of personal ties and organizational connectedness in four municipalities to explicate the networks linking poli ....Connecting Government to Community: A study of social and political connectivity at the municipal level. Facilitating community strengthening by making public institutions more responsive to the needs of citizens is a central policy challenge in the global era. This project will advance theoretical, methodological and practical understandings of this issue by using comparative measures of personal ties and organizational connectedness in four municipalities to explicate the networks linking politicians, bureaucrats, civic leaders and ordinary citizens. The study will generate new measures of which kinds of connections count most, which ties bring more isolated groups closer to engagement, and which community strengthening strategies are likely to make improved governance outcomes feasible.Read moreRead less
The Social and Business Implications of Extending China's Social Security System. The Shanghai Bureau of Labour and Social Security (SBLSS) has introduced regulations that extend social security coverage to employees (including migrants) resident and/or working within the municipality of Shanghai but outside the city limits. These regulations are part of a reform program that aims to develop a comprehensive and sustainable social security system that will provide coverage to all of China's popul ....The Social and Business Implications of Extending China's Social Security System. The Shanghai Bureau of Labour and Social Security (SBLSS) has introduced regulations that extend social security coverage to employees (including migrants) resident and/or working within the municipality of Shanghai but outside the city limits. These regulations are part of a reform program that aims to develop a comprehensive and sustainable social security system that will provide coverage to all of China's population; and one that draws on Australia's experience with social security management. The Bureau has asked us to partcipate in assessing the reforms, a research opportunity offered to no other body of scholars inside or outside China.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0989700
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$175,000.00
Summary
The Australian Policy Online Full-Text Research Repository and Thematic Gateways. By bringing together the research outputs of over 160 member centres and institutes, as well as selected material from government and other sources, Australian Policy Online (APO) makes a significant contribution to the national research effort across all National Research Priorities - environmental sustainability, promoting and maintaining good health, frontier technologies and safeguarding Australia - and to the ....The Australian Policy Online Full-Text Research Repository and Thematic Gateways. By bringing together the research outputs of over 160 member centres and institutes, as well as selected material from government and other sources, Australian Policy Online (APO) makes a significant contribution to the national research effort across all National Research Priorities - environmental sustainability, promoting and maintaining good health, frontier technologies and safeguarding Australia - and to the development of well-informed public policy. This project will increase the value of APO by deepening its coverage of preventative health, planning and the environment, and citizenship; broadening its collection of research material; and offering new resources for researchers.Read moreRead less
Political and social factors in the decline of mass transit: an investigation of failed policies to rebuild Melbourne's mass transit. The project aims to improve understandings of political and social factors underlying failed attempts to rebuild an effective mass transit system In Melbourne.
It will do this by developing an analysis of the delivery of Melbourne's mass transit system which combines modern public policy theory with the outcomes of recent transport planning research.
Urban tr ....Political and social factors in the decline of mass transit: an investigation of failed policies to rebuild Melbourne's mass transit. The project aims to improve understandings of political and social factors underlying failed attempts to rebuild an effective mass transit system In Melbourne.
It will do this by developing an analysis of the delivery of Melbourne's mass transit system which combines modern public policy theory with the outcomes of recent transport planning research.
Urban transport in Australia imposes very large economic, social and environmental costs. Significant increase in the use of mass transit is necessary to reduce these costs. The project will provide problem-solving knowledge to assist efforts to improve the planning and delivery of mass transit in Australian cities.
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Community consultation and the hard to reach. Local government, social profiling and civic infrastructure. This study offers conceptual insights into reasons for non-participation in local government consultation, drawing on critical policy analysis and debates on governance and democratic capacity. The collaboration of 7 local councils and the VLGA enable the development of a transferable, generally viable framework linking: (i) sophisticated demographic profiles (ii) types of communication me ....Community consultation and the hard to reach. Local government, social profiling and civic infrastructure. This study offers conceptual insights into reasons for non-participation in local government consultation, drawing on critical policy analysis and debates on governance and democratic capacity. The collaboration of 7 local councils and the VLGA enable the development of a transferable, generally viable framework linking: (i) sophisticated demographic profiles (ii) types of communication media on a continuum of intensity (face to face, telephone/mail survey, email/Internet); (iii) issues on which residents wish to be consulted; and (iv) implications for civic infrastructure. Outcomes will benefit councils and Victorian citizens by providing an innovative, practically applicable framework for policy implementation using consultative processes.Read moreRead less
Ethnographies of housing: exploring the role of housing officers in public housing service provision. This research examines the everyday practice of public housing officers working in the Victorian Office of Housing. It aims to analyse the ways that workers exercise discretion, and the patterns of meanings that they construct, through their interactions with clients, departmental managers and other human service providers. It is the first ethnographic study of front-line work in housing servi ....Ethnographies of housing: exploring the role of housing officers in public housing service provision. This research examines the everyday practice of public housing officers working in the Victorian Office of Housing. It aims to analyse the ways that workers exercise discretion, and the patterns of meanings that they construct, through their interactions with clients, departmental managers and other human service providers. It is the first ethnographic study of front-line work in housing services in Australia and builds on comparable work done in the United Kingdom and America. The knowledge generated will inform innovation in public housing services, housing policy debates and emerging programs designed to integrate housing with other human services.Read moreRead less
Developing a collaborative approach to ageing well in the community. This project is located within an identified national research priority that of Ageing Well, Ageing Productively. It is also consistent with the goals of the ARC NHMRC Research Network in Ageing Well. While much of the Australian policy debate has previously focused on the negative implications associated with population ageing, it is essential to explore how older people and local communities can age well. The benefit of this ....Developing a collaborative approach to ageing well in the community. This project is located within an identified national research priority that of Ageing Well, Ageing Productively. It is also consistent with the goals of the ARC NHMRC Research Network in Ageing Well. While much of the Australian policy debate has previously focused on the negative implications associated with population ageing, it is essential to explore how older people and local communities can age well. The benefit of this project is that it helps translate national policy directives / goals by offering a framework for action at the local level. Further benefit will derive from the project by enhancing options for community engagement of older people.Read moreRead less
Gendering Impact Assessment: a new framework for producing gender-inclusive policy. Much public policy lacks sensitivity to the differing needs of diverse women and men. The result can be ineffective policy, and policy that reinforces unequal gender relations. This project will: a) produce an innovative, context-sensitive gender analysis framework to promote the development of gender-inclusive policy; b)generate new knowledge about the processes shaping gendered policy outcomes; c) develop pract ....Gendering Impact Assessment: a new framework for producing gender-inclusive policy. Much public policy lacks sensitivity to the differing needs of diverse women and men. The result can be ineffective policy, and policy that reinforces unequal gender relations. This project will: a) produce an innovative, context-sensitive gender analysis framework to promote the development of gender-inclusive policy; b)generate new knowledge about the processes shaping gendered policy outcomes; c) develop practical strategies to bridge the gap in expertise between policy development at government level and implementation in organisations. The goals are: to promote gender equality, and to enable better decision-making at the outset, to save time and money later.
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Social Mix and Social Exclusion in Disadvantaged Communities: Clarifying the Links between Policy, Practice and the Evidence Base. The project tackles an important question and one of considerable national policy significance - that of whether social mix, planned for public housing estates to reduce the spatial concentration of disadvantaged households, will result in benefits for low-income residents in those places. The conceptual framework for exploring this central question is the contempora ....Social Mix and Social Exclusion in Disadvantaged Communities: Clarifying the Links between Policy, Practice and the Evidence Base. The project tackles an important question and one of considerable national policy significance - that of whether social mix, planned for public housing estates to reduce the spatial concentration of disadvantaged households, will result in benefits for low-income residents in those places. The conceptual framework for exploring this central question is the contemporary debate about social exclusion and its corollary social inclusion. The results will have important implications for government policy makers, not to mention improving the quality of life for residents in these neighbourhoods. It will also integrate Australian research into the international debate.Read moreRead less
Creating Collaborative Advantage through Better Network Governance: A Comparative Study of New Institutions and Instruments. By harnessing the embedded resources of different government and service delivery organisations operating at community level, and by removing costly boundary problems between them, governments can address the needs of citizens in a more wholistic and flexible manner. But to do this in a coherent way it is necessary to develop new institutional rules and organisational proc ....Creating Collaborative Advantage through Better Network Governance: A Comparative Study of New Institutions and Instruments. By harnessing the embedded resources of different government and service delivery organisations operating at community level, and by removing costly boundary problems between them, governments can address the needs of citizens in a more wholistic and flexible manner. But to do this in a coherent way it is necessary to develop new institutional rules and organisational processes to allow agencies to collaborate without fear of reduced accountability or syphoning of public funds. The project will examine the structures and processes used in a selection of leading international cases in order to improve Australia's performance in gaining a collaborative advantage for citizens and agencies.Read moreRead less