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
Australia's changing urban tree estate: a socio-ecological study of patterns, causes and consequences. The project will significantly advance social and environmental understanding of the patterns, causes and consequences of changes in the Australian urban tree estate, therefore having immediate relevance to the home-environment of the majority of Australians. This knowledge will be of direct benefit to researchers, planners, land managers and residents in improving the sustainability of Austral ....Australia's changing urban tree estate: a socio-ecological study of patterns, causes and consequences. The project will significantly advance social and environmental understanding of the patterns, causes and consequences of changes in the Australian urban tree estate, therefore having immediate relevance to the home-environment of the majority of Australians. This knowledge will be of direct benefit to researchers, planners, land managers and residents in improving the sustainability of Australian cities. In particular, better informed decisions about the urban tree estate will help to maintain Australia's biodiversity, mitigate local and global climate change effects, manage fire risk, contribute to water conservation, improve air quality, enhance environmental amenity, reduce tree-related social conflict and enhance sense of place. Read moreRead less
Place and parametricism: Provocations for the rethinking of design. This project aims to explore whether quantitative methods of digital and parametric design can adequately encompass place. Quantitative digital and parametric approaches increasingly dominate contemporary architecture, but people assume architectural design should be essentially oriented to questions of place. The project will operate through a set of studio provocations based on the fictional places of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghas ....Place and parametricism: Provocations for the rethinking of design. This project aims to explore whether quantitative methods of digital and parametric design can adequately encompass place. Quantitative digital and parametric approaches increasingly dominate contemporary architecture, but people assume architectural design should be essentially oriented to questions of place. The project will operate through a set of studio provocations based on the fictional places of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast novels. The project is expected to clarify the nature of place and parametricism, and rethink what design itself might be.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
Youth Gangs: The Australian Experience. Little systematic research has been undertaken in Australia into the nature and activities of youth gangs. The aim of this project is to provide a national study of youth group formations, processes of group transformation (toward or away from gangs), and strategies the might be employed to curtail gang formation and gang-related behaviour. The study will involve interviews with young people in each capital city, and focus group discussions with youth serv ....Youth Gangs: The Australian Experience. Little systematic research has been undertaken in Australia into the nature and activities of youth gangs. The aim of this project is to provide a national study of youth group formations, processes of group transformation (toward or away from gangs), and strategies the might be employed to curtail gang formation and gang-related behaviour. The study will involve interviews with young people in each capital city, and focus group discussions with youth service providers in each city. The research methods draw upon the instruments presently being developed by the Eurogang Research Network in order to facilitate cross-national comparisons. It will be the first national study of its kind, and will provide new conceptual insights into the character of youth group formation in Australia, baseline youth gang data, and analysis of possible intervention strategies.
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Optimising the roles of online communities in rural resilience . This research will use data from online communities to identify roles they do, and could play, in rural resilience. It uses social media analytics and spatial methodology to taxonomise and map service topics and social resilience from online communities. Governments call for rural service innovation. To date, robust evidence about online versus local services needed, is lacking. This is partly due to lack of data about diverse cons ....Optimising the roles of online communities in rural resilience . This research will use data from online communities to identify roles they do, and could play, in rural resilience. It uses social media analytics and spatial methodology to taxonomise and map service topics and social resilience from online communities. Governments call for rural service innovation. To date, robust evidence about online versus local services needed, is lacking. This is partly due to lack of data about diverse consumers' priorities and gaps. Social media could offer latent insights, but ethical methodology producing useful de-identified policy insights has been lacking. This study exemplifies applying social media data analytics at scale to address policy problems and will produce up-to-date co-designed data use guidelines.Read moreRead less
Challenging the stigmatisation of poverty and place-based disadvantage. There is widespread community tolerance for using demeaning and derisory stereotypes to describe individuals experiencing poverty and socioeconomic disadvantage. This negative stereotyping, which also attaches to neighbourhoods with high proportions of disadvantaged households, has many adverse effects and undermines poverty reduction efforts. The proposed research will examine the influence of the media on wider community a ....Challenging the stigmatisation of poverty and place-based disadvantage. There is widespread community tolerance for using demeaning and derisory stereotypes to describe individuals experiencing poverty and socioeconomic disadvantage. This negative stereotyping, which also attaches to neighbourhoods with high proportions of disadvantaged households, has many adverse effects and undermines poverty reduction efforts. The proposed research will examine the influence of the media on wider community attitudes to poverty and socioeconomic disadvantage in Australia and the United Kingdom, develop an innovative method for research involving populations vulnerable to being stigmatised, and generate new knowledge of the effects of poverty stigma. Findings will inform strategies for challenging stigma. Read moreRead less
A Game Changer? Alcohol and Women's Sport in Australia. This project aims to investigate emerging relationships between women and alcohol in Australian sport. We will examine the meanings that drinking may have for sportswomen and female fans, and identify new theoretical frameworks for rethinking drinking, gender and sport. In the context of public and policy debates about the risks and social impacts of alcohol consumption, we expect to generate significant new knowledge outcomes. These includ ....A Game Changer? Alcohol and Women's Sport in Australia. This project aims to investigate emerging relationships between women and alcohol in Australian sport. We will examine the meanings that drinking may have for sportswomen and female fans, and identify new theoretical frameworks for rethinking drinking, gender and sport. In the context of public and policy debates about the risks and social impacts of alcohol consumption, we expect to generate significant new knowledge outcomes. These include a world first research corpus of direct relevance for sports administrators and policy-makers, who are currently grappling with the costs and consequences of alcohol use in licensing and legislation, as well as in marketing, sponsorship and promotion of sport to women.Read moreRead less
Between the Outback and the Sea: The Place of Cosmopolitanism in Contemporary Australia. 'Place' is an increasingly contested and problematic notion. In contemporary Australia, it arises as a central issue in relations between the indigenous and the 'settled'; between the refugee and the citizen; between the regional and the international. By focusing on the idea of the 'cosmopolitan' as it arises in the Australian context, and particularly with respect to the built environment (often neglected ....Between the Outback and the Sea: The Place of Cosmopolitanism in Contemporary Australia. 'Place' is an increasingly contested and problematic notion. In contemporary Australia, it arises as a central issue in relations between the indigenous and the 'settled'; between the refugee and the citizen; between the regional and the international. By focusing on the idea of the 'cosmopolitan' as it arises in the Australian context, and particularly with respect to the built environment (often neglected in favour of the concepts of 'land' or 'wilderness'), the project will enable a reconfiguration of the significance and meaning of place for ideas of citizenship and identity.
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