www.newcastle.edu.au

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OVERVIEW

Cities and regions everywhere are undergoing complex transformations.

Global processes of social, cultural, economic, political and environmental change are generating new patterns in how people live and work, how their economies are managed, how they connect to global and local communities, and how they connect to their environments. These transformations produce critical challenges for communities, economies and environments, and for their governance.

From geographical and interdisciplinary perspectives, CURS’ research focuses on the factors driving urban and regional transformations, the outcomes and challenges, and the prospects of creating just and sustainable communities, economies and environments.

Through basic, applied and community-engaged research, CURS contributes to theoretically informed and empirically grounded knowledge and policy-relevant insights on the processes, dynamics and challenges of urban and regional change.

Our work connects to contemporary issues in public policy and practice through strong collaborative relationships with state government departments, local government agencies, and private, not-for-profit and community organisations.

EXPERTISE

CURS has strong local and international networks and wide expertise across areas including:

Urban and Regional Social Development

Asset-based Community and Economic Development

Housing and Neighbourhood Studies

Critical Development Studies

Community Adaptation to Climate Change

Cultural Politics of the Environment

Resource Management Conflicts

University Engagement with Regions and Communities

Our researchers have methodological expertise in qualitative research methodologies—including in-depth interviewing, focus groups and participatory action research—as well as expertise in questionnaire surveys.

CENTRE FORURBAN & REGIONAL STUDIES (CURS)

WORKING WITH US

CURS has the research expertise and experience to support and enable projects with Australian and international organisations—including government agencies, community-based organisations, not-for-profit organisations and businesses—to build understanding of the processes, dynamics and challenges of urban and regional change and to identify the responses needed to create just and sustainable communities, economies and environments.

Research ServicesWe can provide research and insights to help guide organisations’ responses to the challenges of urban and regional transformation and to inform effective and practical policy outcomes.

Our approach is collaborative, interdisciplinary, and innovative. Our methods are effective. Our research is creative and high quality.

We are experienced in communicating complex issues in an accessible and engaging way. Our researchers are often invited to speak at conferences, forums, workshops and seminars. We are also frequently called upon by print, radio and television journalists for expert opinion.

PartnershipsWe have had many successful partnerships with state agencies and local governments, community-based organisations and businesses.

Publications: We are committed to sharing the results of our work through a variety of channels, including reports, journal articles, conference papers and social media.

Contact CURS:

P: +612 4921 5095E: Jenny.Cameron@newcastle.edu.auCA

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CURRENT PROJECTS

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Building a More Sustainable City: Official and Everyday Practices of Regeneration

Building Resilience in Agri-food Systems in Asia through Sustainable and Equitable Practices

Local Attitudes to Changing Land Use – Narrabri Shire

Yandaarra: Caring for Country in Urban and Rural Settings

Reconfiguring the Enterprise: Shifting Manufacturing Culture in Australia

Hazelwood Health Study: Community Wellbeing Stream

Weather Cultures: Enhancing Adaptive Capacity to Environmental Change

Explores urban regeneration at a city-wide scale, investigating how the urban fabric is changed by both official large-scale regeneration projects and the everyday practices of households.

This fellowship and collaborative research program builds the technical skills, knowledge, and collaborative research capacity of participating Fellows from South East Asia, thereby strengthening resilience in agri-food systems through sustainable and equitable practices.

Investigates the attitudes and effects of local land-use changes. This is to be the first of several national studies exploring changing land-use patterns in rural and regional communities.

This collaborative project is developing practical resources to reconfigure natural resource management by attending to Indigenous ideas of Country, and to Country itself.

This project is documenting what manufacturing could look like in Australia in the 21st century. The research is based on case studies of manufacturers that are innovating to address concerns such as environmental responsibility, employee participation and social inclusion.

A multidisciplinary and longitudinal study that is examining community wellbeing impacts associated with the fire in the Morwell open cut mine (which burned for six weeks in 2014).

The research explores the way weather actively and affectively co-constitutes people and place. Based on Indigenous-non-Indigenous "two ways learning", the project assembles alternate and Indigenous-led pathways of response and responsibility in a climate-changing world.

Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project (with Macquarie University)

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (with Monash University)

NSW Dept of Primary Industries (with Centre for Social Research and Regional Futures, UON)

ARC Linkage Project (with Gumbaynggirr Elders and young people, and the Jaliigirr Biodiversity Alliance of NRM organisations)

ARC Discovery Project (with Western Sydney University)

VIC Dept of Health and Human Services (with Federation University & Monash University)

ARC Future Fellowship