No abstract

The South East Queensland region in Australia is experiencing rapid urban growth. In response to this growth, regional level planning and reporting frameworks have been developed relating to both hard infrastructure and natural resource management. However, there has been no formal acknowledgement of a similar need for regional responses as regards the social dimensions of sustainable development. This paper describes a two year action research process, involving diverse public, private and community stakeholders, that focused on developing a social sustainability framework in response to this issue. Key components of the framework are discussed, including social capital, social infrastructure, social justice and equity, and engaged governance. Broad implications for policy and practice are discussed. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.social sustainability , sustainable urban growth , engaged governance , social capital , social justice ,

The concept of resilience has attracted much attention in recent times. However, there remains a distinct knowledge gap with respect to the social aspects of resilience. This paper describes six attributes of social resilience identified through case study research. Research was undertaken by a multi-disciplinary team of researchers who worked in partnership with representatives from five key government and non-government agencies from the Wet Tropics region in North Queensland, Australia. Research findings move understanding of social resilience, which is an emerging area of interest within natural resource management, from a set of assumptions to an evidence base.

No abstract

No abstract

Exploratory research reported in this paper was undertaken in Adelaide, Australia during 1998|99. The purpose of the research is to explore local development practice as evidenced through the experiences and actions of local citizens, community based groups and local government (Neuman, 1994). Results from this first stage research suggest that sustainability initiatives in Australia might best be implemented through a collaborative approach at the local community level involving local citizens working in partnership with local government. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment.

Effective policy responses to the ageing of the population are a priority area for government and non-government agencies across Australia, particularly at the community level. This article focuses on the policy goal of ageing well at the local level, and more specifically, the strong principle of collaboration that underpins this goal. Too little is known about how to achieve effective collaboration in the ageing field. This article aims to address this by developing an analytical framework from the broad literature on collaborative processes, and applying this framework to data collected from interviews with stakeholders in ageing across two local communities in Queensland. While participants recognise the importance and strength of working together and provide local examples of how this has been achieved effectively, they also acknowledge the associated challenges and complexity. This all spanned the six factors of the framework: the context of ageing; the characteristics and relationships between partners; the need for adequate procedures; as well as structure and relationships aimed at building capacity; a shared sense of purpose; and access to adequate resources.

Despite ongoing equity initiatives, there is still a clear discrepancy in regards to access to higher education for potential students from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. This paper reports on an action research initiative that has developed a model of engaged outreach as an alternative approach to traditional university outreach. Engaged outreach uses the principles of higher education community engagement to develop stronger relationships between universities and their local communities for the purposes of increasing aspiration and access to higher education. The project was designed using a reflective, collaborative process with local Pacific Island immigrant communities living in an area of high social deprivation in southeast Queensland, Australia. Research progressed in three key stages, which together form the basis of the proposed model of engaged outreach. While it is acknowledged that the success of engaged outreach will depend on its implementation as a long-term strategy, preliminary results from this pilot project suggest that it demonstrates real potential to address this important but seemingly entrenched issue in Australian higher education.