Background

This landmark study of peri-urban regions in two states has two key aims. First, it will investigate the nature and extent of contemporary peri urban regions in Australia. This will involve an examination of environmental, social and economic trends in two peri-urban areas, and a description and analysis of current governance, institutional, policy and management arrangements and an evaluation of their adequacy. Second, it will outline the implications of social, economic and environmental changes for future land use and management; identify likely future patterns of socio-economic, agricultural, cultural, natural resource development, environmental and land use change in peri-urban landscapes; and develop scenarios for future land use and management based on 'business as usual', interventionist and deregulated options.

The first aim will be addressed through the analysis of peri urban metropolitan regions in two states - Queensland and Victoria - considering both the immediate rural areas that surround the metropolitan areas of Brisbane and Melbourne, and the broader regional settlement system within which these major cities are located. Two rural case studies will also be examined centred on the regional city of Bendigo in Victoria and the Extended Western Corridor in South East Queensland.

The second aim will be investigated by applying information and analysis of trends and institutional actions in Australia's peri-urban regions to modelling future development and management scenarios. This stage will produce a clear assessment of change and continuity in peri-urban regions.


Key Research Questions

1. What social, natural resource, agricultural, economic, land use and environmental trends are evident in the study areas and how do key factors interact?
2. What institutional, legislative, policy and other instruments are in place to manage trends and how adequate are these instruments to anticipate and respond to changes?
3. What are the factors that could influence how rural and peri-urban lands are used in the future?
4. What are the alternative ways in which Australian society might respond to these factors, in particular, changes to current statutory, legislative, institutional and policy directions/arrangements, and the types of land use?
5. What alternative scenarios of future development, change and impacts of urban growth are possible in the two case study areas?
6. What policy, institutions, governance, regulations and other measures would be assumed under different scenarios?


Study Areas

The study is examining the area of the urban fringe in Melbourne and Brisbane, in the two case study areas, to a distance of up to 150 kilometres.


Study Phasing and Structure

This two year study has been structured into three phases, involving:

Phase 1 - Review of Peri Urban Literature and Experience (June 2005 - June 2006)
(Led by RMIT project team)
" Review of Australian & international evidence (encompassing conceptual and policy literatures)
" Identification of key empirical and knowledge gaps (nationally and regionally)
" Identification of key conceptual, institutional and methodological issues, including appropriate spatial scales of analysis, drivers of change and implication of supra regional influences (e.g., globalisation) in peri urban change

Phase 2 - Case Studies (June 2006 - July 2007)
(Simultaneous investigation of Queensland and Victorian case studies by both project teams)
Stage 1: Inductive analysis of extent and nature of peri urban regions
Stage 2: Identification, ranking and measurement of regional change trends
Stage 3: Scenario modelling of future socio-economic, agricultural,land-use, natural resource and ecological conditions
Stage 4: Case specific consideration of institutional, governance & policy responses to ensure sustainable change management.

Phase 3 - Elaboration of Scenario Models and Public Interventions (July 2007 - Dec 2007)
(Led by Griffith project team)
" Review and comparison of case study findings
" Elaboration of general findings about likely scenarios and appropriate interventions
" Specification of context dependent changes and responses
" Scenario modelling workshops
" Comparison with international experience
" Peer review and expert reference group input
" Elaboration of practical policy implications of research
" Critical reflection on project outcomes and outputs
" Identification of substantive and methodological issues for second stage of research program (2007-8)


Outputs

" Project Monograph 1: Review of Peri-Urban Regions: Australian and International Experience
" Information baseline descriptions of Queensland & Victorian peri urban regions at a variety of spatial scales (locality, subregion, region)
" New GIS based methods for identifying peri urban conditions and trends and associated informational databases
" Research Monographs 2 & 3: Peri-Urban Case Studies, Queensland & Victoria
" Research Monograph 4: Peri-Urban Futures and Sustainable Development


Project Reference Group

The project and the case study reviews have been guided by an expert reference group, drawing from key stakeholders in each jurisdiction, especially NRM agencies, State and Local government and industry. The Reference Group will also include representatives from the funding bodies.


Host Research Institutions

This joint research project is being undertaken by a collaborative team from the School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning, RMIT University, Melbourne and the Urban Research Program, School of the Environmental, Griffith University, Brisbane. The project is funded by the Social and Institutional Research Program, Land and Water Australia with supplementary funding from the Department of the Environment and Heritage under their National Vegetation Imitative of the Natural Heritage Trust.

RMIT - www.rmit.edu.au/browse;ID=3zj8ooplwx
GU - www.gu.edu.au/centre/urp


Strategic Policy Context

The study is timely given that the Victorian government has recently released the first Melbourne metropolitan strategic plan since 1987, Melbourne 2030, and the Queensland government released its new SEQ Regional Plan 2005-2026 in June 2005.

The Melbourne plan returns to a partly interventionist planning approach based on demographic predictions through the delineation of urban growth corridors, the introduction of a legislated urban growth boundary, protection of a green belt, and the attempt to locate development into defined mixed use activity centres. The SEQ Regional Plan introduces directive planning to the peri urban area of Brisbane for the first time by defining an urban footprint, areas for investigation, and a Regional Landscape and Rural Production Area. It is based similarly on demographic and social predictions. Both plans also recognise the importance of protecting the natural resource base including agricultural land, landscapes and environmental features, and are strongly influenced by limitations on water availability.

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