DECEMBER 2006 Download PDF
Suiting the Thais: Australian International Education Provision to Thailand
Australia is one of the leading providers of international education to students from East and South East Asia. The number of Asian students to enrol at an Australian institution was around 270,000 in 2005, up 12% in just two years...
Value Added in Tourism Expenditure
Many impact assessments of tourism projects attempt to measure their economic contribution. Data abounds on tourism expenditure, but how much of this translates into contributions to GDP or Value Added...
Housing Affordability and Migration
The recent rise in house prices throughout Australia has seen an associated drop in affordability, as wage increases in real terms have not matched the rising cost of housing, leaving potential first homebuyers and those on low incomes most vulnerable...
Office development in Sydney: Suburbanisation but not the Death of the CBD
While jobs have been decentralising to suburban centres over the last 20 years and these centres now contain more jobs than the Sydney CBD and fringe, the CBD has remained strong...
SGS News
SEPTEMBER 2006 Download PDF
Productivity in the Workplace Environment
Employers and researchers have tied productivity to many different factors, including management practices, compensation levels, staff morale and environmental comfort...
The Economic Impact of the Night Economy
Some commercial precincts attract only a few lonely strollers after dark. Others remain vibrant as bars, clubs, hotels and reception centres come to life. Often, local policy on night life focuses on nuisance control issues, and less attention is paid to economic impacts...
Universities' Contribution to the Life of the City
Major studies in Boston and London have examined the impacts universities have on their local communities. These and other more localised US studies indicate that major research institutions function as real estate and business developers, economic generators, and philanthropists and catalysts for social innovation...
Interpreting Eminent Domain - A Policy Dilemma for US Planners
Eminent domain (also known as compulsory acquisition, compulsory purchase, or expropriation) has been a government tool since the inception of the US Constitution. Challenges to the US Supreme Court on this issue have come from both government and private citizens...
SGS News
MAY 2006 Download PDF
Strategic Planning for the Well-Being of Indigenous Australia
Whilst there are many historical, complex and specific causes of the lack of parity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia, one of these has undoubtedly been a longstanding lack of balanced strategic responses in many policy initiatives. In short, a lack of rigorous strategic planning...
The Role of Social Capital in Revitalising Small Town Economies
In an environment of globalised economic arrangements, changing farm economies and the rationalisation of public service delivery, many rural communities face significant economic and social challenges...
Cordon Pricing and Motor Vehicle Tax Incentives - Recent Experience in Implementation
Creating a metropolitan transport system more efficient and sustainable is easier said than done. Making progress towards transport related objectives requires a coordinated approach with a 'mix' of policy mechanisms or packages, made up of regulatory, pricing, and technological measures among others...
Chasing Jane's Shadow
Jane Jacobs' observations turned into some of the earliest urban planning classroom literature, It helped the early generation of planners, to recognise the importance of a ‘living city,’ and they chased Jane’s shadow...
SGS News
FEBRUARY 2006 Download PDF
Urban Change Challenges in New Zealand
Over the twentieth century, New Zealand underwent a transformation from an agrarian to a highly urbanised society. By 2002, New Zealand was one of the most urban countries in the world, with 86% of the population living in towns or cities...
Creating a Desirable Green Economy
The US city of Portland, Oregon adopted a global warming plan which included various greenhouse gas abatement initiatives with the aim to reduce emissions to 10% below the 1990 levels by 2010. Portland’s proactive approach has paid off...
Residential Planning for the Future - A Sydney Metropolitan Perspective
State and Local Government in New South Wales play a major role in influencing the housing market, via planning regulations and by coordinating and providing local social and physical infrastructure...
What do we get for our Money? - Evaluating a Special Charge
Regional communities are embracing tourism as an alternative economic base to their more traditional rural industries. Australian regions are competing fiercely for tourist numbers and to entice tourists to stay longer...
SGS News
DECEMBER 2005 Download PDF
Planning for Social Infrastructure
There is growing international recognition that investment in human and civic assets are core foundations to economic prosperity and social well-being. Communities that offer opportunities for human development and the capability to lead worthwhile lives have...
Establishing Desired Standards of Service - The Role of Benchmarking
Benchmarking is a powerful tool to enable forward planning, co-ordination and negotiation between respective social infrastructure providers. It also enables...
Broad Based Benchmarks
A starting place for many authorities responsible for planning and providing social infrastructure is determining what to benchmark. Two factors need to be considered when determining this...
Keeping Abreast of Social Infrastructure Requirements: Social Infrastructure Planning Model - Under Construction
Communities are constantly changing. With change and growth comes the need for planning to ensure social infrastructure is provided in an efficient and responsive manner. But opportunities are often missed...
Special Contributors
October 2005 Download PDF
"Meet you at the club?": Geography, Social networks and Risk Management
“For much of the twentieth century, economic geography was preoccupied with the spatial structure of market transactions and the resulting flows of commodities across time and space..."
Indigenous Housing - A Sector in Crisis
It is no exaggeration to say that the Indigenous housing sector in Australia is a sector in crisis. Despite prolonged efforts and some successes over the last decade, Indigenous Australians still endure much lower living standards...
Valuing Cultural Heritage
It is true that planners usually value heritage places highly; however placing a dollar value on such assets is often viewed with skepticism...
Assessing Future Housing Supply in Wollongong
Local housing studies have commonly used methodologies focusing on demand and the supply. A recent study of Wollongong has used an innovative model that enabled a detailed comparison of supply and demand features and assessed future housing supply taking into account infill potential as well as...
SGS News
JULY 2005 Download PDF
Scoping Secondary Labour Market Solutions
In this era of rapid technological change and globalisation, it is increasingly important for regional competitiveness that skills development is matched to labour market needs...
Quantifying Future Demand for Apartments in Suburban Activity Centres
Recent years have seen unprecedented levels of high density apartment construction adjacent to Melbourne’s CBD. Now the metropolitan strategic planning framework, is attempting to provide opportunities for medium to high density housing away from the city centre, in suburban activity centres close to fixed rail transport...
South East Queensland Regional Plan is Good News for the Sunshine Coast Economy
The Queensland Government’s Draft South East Queensland Regional Plan will have an unparalleled influence on the future development of the region through the realisation of its regulatory provisions and the amendment and alignment of Local Government planning schemes...
Golf-Related Residential Estates in Australia - An Overview
The golf-related housing market in Australia has grown rapidly over the last decade as buyers are attracted by lifestyle, security and life in a more or less closed community...
SGS News
APRIL 2005 Download PDF
Three Pillars of Good Governance in Urban Planning
Recent Australian debate on planning governance, including the work of the Development Assessment Forum and the critiques of new generation metropolitan strategies has crystallised some foundation principles for this field of public policy...
Organic Farming in Australia - An Industry Overview
Several industry reports have been drafted scoping the size of the organic produce industry in Australia. These reports acknowledge that, while recent growth rates may have been over-estimated, the Australian market for organic food has grown at between 10% - 30% pa...
Where Am I Supposed To Live Now? US Housing Options for People With Chronic Mental Illness
There are anywhere from five to ten million chronically mentally ill adults in the United States. For them, adequate housing is not just four walls and a warm bed. They require almost daily assistance from social workers and psychiatrists to make sure they take care of themselves. However...
SGS News
JANUARY 2005 Download PDF
Achieving a Job-Housing Balance in New Communities
Smart growth is synonymous with sustainable development. Policy thinking on the development of ‘smart’ communities has evolved in recent years in line with the growth of New Urbanism theory...
Activity Centres: A Timely Review of Their Contribution to Society, the Environment and the Economy
Activity centres are not just dispensers of retail goods and services. They are also community meeting places, centres of social services, locations for education and employment, settings for recreation, leisure and entertainment activities, and places for living ...
The Neo-classicists Versus the Evolutionary Economists - A Progress Score
In his recent review of the determinants of regional economic success, Mike Berry sums up the different approaches to innovation espoused by ‘neo-classical economics’ and new growth theory or ‘evolutionary economics’. The former...
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