Brendan Gleeson

Remoralising Landscapes of Care

The policy and theoretical discourses of deinstitutionalisation have been centred on a fundamental normative polarity that opposes the ‘dehumanising’ institution to the more humane environment of community care. We reconsider this moral polarity by drawing upon three philosophical currents that emphasise the need for inclusive and compassionate governance. We argue that there are strong political — ethical and practical reasons why inclusive governance can improve human-services planning and delivery. First, by recognising and addressing the vulnerabilities of nonservice users, an inclusive ethics is most likely to maximise the welfare of all groups with interests in community care. Following from this, an inclusive ethics is more likely to foster the broad social support that we argue is necessary for successful community care. Third, an inclusionary outlook has the potential to broaden the design of community-care services and facilities. An inclusive ethics would radically open up policy design to a range of other service options that account for the complexities of place, policy context, and the needs of key interest groups, such as service users, workers, relatives/advocates, and local communities.

Disability Studies: A historical materialist view

ABSTRACT This paper presents an historical materialist view of recent accounts of disability in Western societies. This view is presented in two main parts: first, as an in-depth appraisal of the field of disability studies, and secondly, as an outline for an alternative, historical materialist account of disablement. The critical assessment of disability studies finds that recent accounts of disability are in the main seriously deficient in terms of both epistemology and historiography (though some important exceptions are identified). In particular, four specific areas of theoretical weakness are identified: theoretical superficiality, idealism, the fixation with normality, and an unwillingness to consider history seriously. It is argued that these deficiencies have prevented the field of disability studies from realising its potential to challenge the structures which oppress impaired people. From this critical epistemological perspective, an outline is made of an alternative, materialist account of di...

The Green City: Sustainable homes, sustainable suburbs

Authors Acknowledgments 1. What does sustainability mean for cities? 2. Sustainable homes and suburbs 3. Nature in the city 4. Sustainable workplaces 5. Sustainable transport 6. Making the green city 7. Green-shaded cities Notes and references Index

Governance, Sustainability and Recent Australian Metropolitan Strategies: A Socio‐theoretic Analysis

This article examines the response of planning to the challenges highlighted by current governance and sustainability discourses. To this end, an archaeology of the contested and shifting aims and objects of planning is employed to inform the analytic interrogation of five Australian metropolitan planning strategies. Analysis of the conceptual heritage of planning along with the emergent preoccupations with the planning governance and urban sustainability yields five key themes: policy, space, planning governance, finance and democracy. We deploy these in a critical review of contemporary Australian metropolitan strategies. The resulting empirical analysis suggests that an integrated planning paradigm, centrally concerned with urban sustainability, is coalescing within contemporary strategic planning systems. We argue that this strategic reorientation of growth management around broad sustainability and democratic concerns has the potential to reanimate planning and resecure its socio‐political footings.

Making Urban Transport Sustainable

List of Figures and Tables Notes on the Contributors Acknowledgements Internet Websites Is Urban Transport Sustainable? N.Low PART I: GLOBAL ISSUES IN TRANSPORT SUSTAINABILITY Global Cities, Transport, Energy and the Future: Will Ecosocialization Reverse the Historic Trends? P.Newman The Peak of Oil: An Economic and Political Turning Point for the World C.Campbell The Effect of E-commerce on Transportation Demand H.Stiller Automotive Pollution Control Technologies C.Destefani & E.Siores PART II: REGIONAL AND NATIONAL STUDIES Towards Sustainable Transportation Policy in the United States: A Grassroots Perspective C.Yee Transport in the European Union: Time to Decide J.Whitelegg Transport Sustainability in Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands E.Tengstrom The Privatization of the Japan National Railways: The Myth of Neo-liberal Reform and Spatial Configurations of the Rail Network in Japan - A View from Critical Geography I.Takeda & F.Mizuoka Developing Public Transport Systems in Indian Cities: Towards a Sustainable Future S.Banerjee-Guha Transport and Land Use in Chinese Cities: International Comparisons G.Hu Barriers to Sustainable Transport in Australia B.Gleeson, C.Curtis & N.Low PART III: BEST PRACTICE IN SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT Towards Sustainable Urban Transportation in the European Union I.Elander & R.Lidskog Managing Transport Demand in European Countries J.Whitelegg & N.Low Lessons from Asia on Sustainable Urban Transport P.Barter, J.Kenworthy & F.Laube Bibliography Index

Towards a New Planning Paradigm? Reflections on New Zealand's Resource Management Act

The Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) provides a new statutory framework for environmental planning in New Zealand. This Act replaces a plethora of environmental planning and management statutes including the town and country planning legislation. The new Act signals a paradigmatic shift in planning ideology, and perhaps practice. The change is from a ‘town and country’ mode, which was embedded in the wider political economy of the welfare state, to a new biophysical and technocentric planning ethos. This paradigmatic shift is seen as worrying in that it may signal a dilution of social and economic equity considerations which, in our opinion, should be concerns for planning. The analysis of the paper has three parts. The first is a description of the system of urban planning which prevailed in New Zealand until the enactment of the RMA in 1991. The second section is a review of the sociopolitical changes which shaped the new legislation. The third part of the discussion is an overview of the new Act and an analysis of two of its key aspects: the influence of New Right ideology in the legislation; and the approach to sustainable development.

The local impacts of urban consolidation in Sydney

The processes of urban consolidation are described, detailed and reviewed in three local government areas in Sydney since 1980. This provides an integrated account and analysis of how market forces and planning policies have actually delivered dwelling stock on the ground. Distinctive aspects of urban consolidation in each local government area are reviewed.

Performance-based planning - Perspectives from the United States, Australia, and New Zealand

This article examines the application of performance-based planning at the local level in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. A review of the literature finds that there have been few evaluations of performance-based planning, despite its being used by many governments. The authors provide a comparative review of the experiences of various jurisdictions in implementing this form of zoning and present observations on its relative strengths and weaknesses. Findings suggest that many of the jurisdictions that adopted performance-based planning subsequently abandoned it because of the heavy administrative burden required, and where performance methods survived, they were typically hybridized with traditional zoning. If performance-based approaches continue to be used, there is a need to better understand the administrative and implementation implications of this type of land use regulation.

Urban research and child-friendly cities: a new Australian outline

Recent public debates about Australias children and young people have begun to acknowledge the direct impact of urban development on their health and well-being. This paper reviews a broad range of trans-disciplinary literature addressing child-friendliness in contemporary Australian cities, drawing particular attention to the fact that even some of the most recognised texts on children and young people in Australia still make few references in their analysis to the issue of place and neighbourhood. More specifically, the paper points to two particular research challenges confronting the ongoing study of young peoples well-being in urban areas, including (a) the need for a more thorough analysis, both conceptual and applied, about how children and young peoples well-being is affected by different urban forms and by the social and ecological variations that occur throughout cities; and (b) the focus on younger children needs to be complemented by a focus on adolescents and young adults who in turn need to be actively involved in confronting these challenges.

Space and Place: Social Exclusion in Australia's Suburban Heartlands

As a prolonged period of Australian prosperity ends, attention has now begun to turn to the likely impacts of a severe economic downturn. The pain of recession is unlikely to be evenly distributed across the population or across space. Not that the previous economic good fortune was evenly spread across society. It is, therefore, expected that a new layer of socio-economic stress will be laid over existing patterns of social and spatial disparity. In this context, questions of deprivation and social exclusion are an important ongoing concern. Deprivation and social exclusion are operative at a number of levels of society. Neo-liberal thought and policy has been directed at the level of the individual. However, space and place are also important, as spatially concentrated disadvantage has structural consequences for both individual fortunes and the broader social fabric. This article considers the spatial distribution of disadvantage across our major metropolitan regions and considers potential approaches to address social exclusion in our suburban heartlands.