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
Tracing the impact of urban experimentation in water and energy domains. This proposal aims to investigate how the processes of experimenting with alternative urban infrastructure systems can lead to sustainable urban transformations. Focusing on the urban water and energy sectors, this project expects to generate new cross-sector knowledge regarding the transition dynamics associated with delivering sustainable urban futures. The anticipated outcomes of examining how innovations become mainstre ....Tracing the impact of urban experimentation in water and energy domains. This proposal aims to investigate how the processes of experimenting with alternative urban infrastructure systems can lead to sustainable urban transformations. Focusing on the urban water and energy sectors, this project expects to generate new cross-sector knowledge regarding the transition dynamics associated with delivering sustainable urban futures. The anticipated outcomes of examining how innovations become mainstream include, improved institutional strategies and enhanced policy and program interventions. This work expects to positively impact the value and associated outcomes of government and private investment in innovative urban infrastructures dedicated to advancing sustainable and resilient urban environments.Read moreRead less
Foregrounding the suburban backyard: using hybrid spaces to develop new environmental theory for more effective management of human landscapes. Although human influences now pervade all Earth processes, environmental ideals of pristine past landscapes without people continue to dominate. The project addresses the challenge of managing environments for hybridity, change and human presence, rather than timeless purity. I will undertake the first in-depth ethnographic study of the suburban backya ....Foregrounding the suburban backyard: using hybrid spaces to develop new environmental theory for more effective management of human landscapes. Although human influences now pervade all Earth processes, environmental ideals of pristine past landscapes without people continue to dominate. The project addresses the challenge of managing environments for hybridity, change and human presence, rather than timeless purity. I will undertake the first in-depth ethnographic study of the suburban backyard, Australia's most hybrid ecosystem. I analyse how categories of environmental belonging - indigenous/introduced, wild/tame, hybrid/pure - are differentially applied to people, other species and landscapes, in policy and popular culture. This contributes to new theories of long term human-environment interactions and effective management of human landscapes. Outcomes will include books and museum exhibitions.Read moreRead less
In it to win it: an interdisciplinary investigation of sports betting. This project aims to better understand how young adults use, communicate about and experience mobile phone sports betting applications. Gambling generates significant health and social harms in Australia. Yet there is little research on the use of betting apps, even though sports betting is the fastest growing segment of the gambling market. This project intends to examine how use of sports betting apps is becoming establishe ....In it to win it: an interdisciplinary investigation of sports betting. This project aims to better understand how young adults use, communicate about and experience mobile phone sports betting applications. Gambling generates significant health and social harms in Australia. Yet there is little research on the use of betting apps, even though sports betting is the fastest growing segment of the gambling market. This project intends to examine how use of sports betting apps is becoming established as everyday social practice normalising problem gambling. The findings will enhance understanding of the social contexts of sports betting, and inform gambling policy and programs leading to better health and social outcomes.Read moreRead less
Improving Government Policy Making and Needs-Based Delivery of Services: Innovative Techniques to Enhance Administrative Data by Adding Socioeconomic Status. This project will create major national benefits by illuminating whether there are significant differences in access to or usage of such key government services as health and education by socio-economic status. Currently, most departments do not fully exploit their administrative data to answer such questions, because of the difficulty of ....Improving Government Policy Making and Needs-Based Delivery of Services: Innovative Techniques to Enhance Administrative Data by Adding Socioeconomic Status. This project will create major national benefits by illuminating whether there are significant differences in access to or usage of such key government services as health and education by socio-economic status. Currently, most departments do not fully exploit their administrative data to answer such questions, because of the difficulty of identifying the socio-economic status of users. This project will help Australia in its on-going but recently intensified efforts to make better use of its administrative data, resulting in a more efficient use of our data resources; better targeting of scare government resources; and improved identification of those in greatest need. Read moreRead less
Twenty-first century urban renewal: rethinking Australian planning and building regulations and their effects on the life of the city. This project compares legislative, regulatory and financing approaches to large scale urban renewal projects in Germany, Canada and Australia. It assesses their varying capacities to enable socially diverse uses of inner cities, and will advise on ways of reducing the place-based social divisions that are increasing as Australian cities expand.
Negotiating alternative economic strategies for regional development in Indonesia and the Philippines. In the context of recent decentralization of government functions in Indonesia and the Philippines this action research project will test an innovative model of partnership between four communities and local government units aimed at generating new pathways for regional development. Community-based researchers and local government workers will map the social and economic transactions and assets ....Negotiating alternative economic strategies for regional development in Indonesia and the Philippines. In the context of recent decentralization of government functions in Indonesia and the Philippines this action research project will test an innovative model of partnership between four communities and local government units aimed at generating new pathways for regional development. Community-based researchers and local government workers will map the social and economic transactions and assets of each local region as a step towards mobilizing these people-centred resources in alternative livelihood projects. Innovative strategies that build upon indigenous and local capacities for sustainable development of a diverse community economy will be explored and implemented.Read moreRead less
The relationship between mining companies and mine-affected communities in developing countries. Conflicts with local communities have been a major source of social risk for mining companies operating in Indonesia and other parts of the Asia Pacific region, and this research will contribute to Australian national security by dealing directly with this issue. It will contribute to the formation of better policies and practices for empowering women and empowering communities in the Indonesian mini ....The relationship between mining companies and mine-affected communities in developing countries. Conflicts with local communities have been a major source of social risk for mining companies operating in Indonesia and other parts of the Asia Pacific region, and this research will contribute to Australian national security by dealing directly with this issue. It will contribute to the formation of better policies and practices for empowering women and empowering communities in the Indonesian mining sector. At a regional and global scale, the lessons learnt about the construction of effective strategies for 'engendering' the development process will be applicable in other locations where Australian capital, technology and expertise are invested in large-scale industrial development, both inside and outside of the mining sector.Read moreRead less
Living with Urban Heat: Becoming Climate-Ready in Social Housing . This project aims to address liveability in rapidly warming cities by focusing on the role that social practice plays in complementing technical and infrastructural cooling solutions. This project expects to generate new knowledge about equitable heat adaptive practices. It does so by working with culturally diverse social housing residents using an innovative blend of participatory action research and transition design. Expected ....Living with Urban Heat: Becoming Climate-Ready in Social Housing . This project aims to address liveability in rapidly warming cities by focusing on the role that social practice plays in complementing technical and infrastructural cooling solutions. This project expects to generate new knowledge about equitable heat adaptive practices. It does so by working with culturally diverse social housing residents using an innovative blend of participatory action research and transition design. Expected outcomes of this project include practical, low-cost cooling strategies that can be implemented now, along with increased social input into planning for the hotter urban future. This should provide significant benefits, such as enhanced civic capacity to generate society-wide climate readiness. 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