Humanities and Social Sciences

Planning

Current Research and Consulting Projects

1. Metro peri urban area – being conducted with RMIT and the peri-urban group of Councils, examining land use, demographic and physical change and policy implications (builds on a project just completed for Land and Water Australia with RMIT and Griffith Uni).
2. Land Use Planning and Food Security being conducted for the Victorian Local Governance Association – involves working with all Councils in the state on the integration of a food security into their land use planning.
3. Carrick Institute project on work experience in planning courses across Australia, being conducted with RMIT and Griffith.
4. Telecommunications Research Grants Program – Assessing the current and potential role of broadband infrastructure and access in community strengthening of drought affected small towns and communities for Department of Broadband Communications and the Digital Economy.
5. Assessing the effectiveness of local government planning scheme controls in protecting native vegetation in the Port Philip and Westernport Region for Port Philip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority conducted with RMIT and a private firm.
6. Provision for agricultural land and production and food security and links with healthy living in metropolitan strategies in Australia’s metropolitan strategies.
7. Peri urban development implications for agriculture in south west WA for WA Dept of Agriculture and Department of Infrastructure and Planning.
8. Advising Regional Development Victoria on demographic, social, economic change across regional Victoria
9. The planning program at the Bendigo campus of La Trobe was invited by RMIT and Griffith Universities to be part of a submission for funding from the Carrick Institute for a national research project on work practices and placements in respect to planning students. Having a regional campus involved was essential to that bid to ensure a strong regional component. The project was awarded $171,000 which will include research by the Bendigo campus.
10. Leveraging off this Carrick Institute funded project the planning program has made a submission to Regional Development Victoria (RDV) for $35,000 to take the Carrick Institute project further and undertake research on the links between planners in work places and economic development officers in local governments in regional areas.
11. RMIT and Griffith Universities received funding of nearly $400,000 from Land and Water Australia to undertake a two year benchmark study of peri-urban development in Australia. One of the key themes of the study is the impact of metropolitan development on regional communities. The planning program at Bendigo has been invited to participate in aspects of the research to strengthen the research base of the study.