Christine Steinmetz

Women, professionalism and leadership in state government planning in New South Wales

Gender issues in planning, urban design and the built environment are an established focus for academic studies, as well as in the everyday professional environment. Most interest has been directed at the organisation of urban space, rather than the instrumental roles of women in shaping the environment. This paper commences an expedition into the historical and contemporary dimensions of leading women professional planners in post-war Sydney. Employing a mix of interviews and documentary research, it explores womens contributions and experiences and the role of gender in enabling or constraining their input into the development of professional planning practice. Focusing on women who have worked at senior levels for the New South Wales State Governments peak planning agency since the 1950s, the paper acknowledges the contributions of key individuals, but organises this discussion against wider themes of gender balance in the workforce, pathways and impediments to leadership, institutional culture and work-life balance.

Ethics and planning research

Ethics and planning research, by Francesco Lo Piccolo and Huw Thomas, Surrey, England, Ashgate, 2009, 260 pp.,

Consuming space: placing consumption in perspective

100/£65, ISBN: 978-0-7546-7357-6 Ethics and Planning Research, edited by Lo Piccolo a...

(Sub)urban sexscapes : geographies and regulation of the sex industry

why people react the way they do then we will move more quickly to find ways to address those concerns. This is a book that would have great utility for any planners engaged in health impact assessments, as it provides a diversity of resources in the often overlooked or marginalised area of mental health. So I would encourage practising planners to close their eyes to some of the chapter titles and the dense theory of Chapter 1 to see the value in the remaining chapters. Sarah Curtis has done an excellent job in evaluating a very wide range of material to provide a comprehensive and informative commentary on mental health and the environment. It will also provide an excellent textbook for use in geography courses at undergraduate level, will provide a useful adjunct to the reading list of undergraduate planning courses and is an essential purchase for any university library. For any academic involved even peripherally in the health area, it will provide a provocative read and a valuable starting point for any related research.