News and events
Distinguished Professor of local and regional governance to visit Griffith University
Prof John Mawson will be visiting the URP for six weeks, from 15 June to 24 July, with the support of a 2009 Sir Alan Sewell Visiting Fellowship. He will be based at the Gold Coast campus and is hosted by Prof Paul Burton.
John is a Professor of Local and Regional Governance, and is currently the Director of the Local Government Centre at the Warwick Business School, University of Warwick in the UK. His research interests focus on multi-level governance, regional policy, strategic partnerships and neighbourhood management of local services. He has also carried out research on social enterprises and was at one Joint Chief Executive of the West Midlands Enterprise Board in the UK.
Prof Mawson will be working with Prof Burton to prepare academic papers on multi-level governance and to also develop a collaborative and comparative research project on governance and strategic planning at the regional scale. This research project will be looking to apply jointly to the ARC and the UK's ESRC in the future. He will also be making a number of presentations during his visit and is keen to talk with any colleagues who share his research interests.
URP project receives national recognition in Planning Institute of Australia awards
A/Prof Darryl Low Choy's research into changing land use on both the fringe of metropolitan conurbations and in the wider regional context has been honoured at the Planning Institute of Australia's recent national awards ceremony in Darwin. The citation, in part, read: "This study best fulfils the award criteria and makes an outstanding contribution to our understanding of a very relevant and difficult area of planning ... This research (part of a South East Queensland and Melbourne comparison) seeks to understand the processes of change and their planning and management implications. It develops an innovative typology of spatial settings, links them to landscape management challenges and identifies possible institutional arrangements. It is supported by a sound methodology and extensive understanding of previous research and literature."
- View the research monographs at Peri Urban Research - Griffith.
Disappearing backyards
Australians may like to think of themselves as 'outdoor people', but an urban design expert from Griffith University says the Australian backyard is in danger of disappearing.
Prof Tony Hall has been studying the way substantial backyards have largely disappeared from new Australian suburbs. The larger houses and smaller green spaces present serious environmental and lifestyle issues. In an interview for ABC Radio National's Life Matters he gives his understanding of why it is happening and suggest remedies, including designing medium-density housing with large backyards.
Urban Research Program seminar series
- 17 July 2009 - Prof John Mawson – Multi level and regional governance in England: A decade of experiment under New Labour (PDF 93k)
- 8 July 2009 - Cheryl Desha – Rapid curriculum renewal towards engineering education for sustainable development (PDF 105k)
- 10 June 2009 - Dr Alison Taylor – Recent population trends and future challenges: It's no longer business as usual - Taylor flyer (PDF 101k), Taylor presentation
- 20 May 2009 - Dr Terry (Tiebei) Li – Spatially disaggregating population and employment forecasts for South East Queensland (PDF 93k)
- 6 May 2009 - Rolf Kuelsen and A/Prof Andrew Wilford – Transition initiatives: Creating local sustainable communities beyond oil dependency (PDF 123k)
- 22 April 2009 - Dr Caryl Bosman – Housing, home and history: Implications for climate change (PDF 93k)
- 8 April 2009 - A/Prof Darryl Low Choy – 'Mythbusters' (PDF 93k)
- 4 February 2009 - Prof Brendan Gleeson – Urban research going forward: More time, less space (PDF 92k)
Past events
You can also view information from past URP events: