Project Summary
The non-urban areas within 150 kilometres of Australian metropolitan centres are undergoing rapid change and fragmentation, and in many cases, intense conflict. They are the sites of all outer urban expansion; are important sources of environmental, natural and human resources; produce over one quarter of the value of agricultural production; are the locations of much urban water; and contain 50 per cent of threatened biodiversity.
The project examined factors affecting land use change on peri-urban land around two major Australian cities, Melbourne and Brisbane, and two regional urban areas and their hinterlands, the Bendigo corridor from Melton to Bendigo, and the Extended Western Corridor to the west of Brisbane. The project was undertaken in three phases:
Phase 1 - This review of peri urban literature and experience produced Monograph 1, a comprehensive review of the national and international peri-urban literature, and an analysis of issues for Australian peri-urban regions.
Phase 2 - The case studies involved simultaneous investigations of Queensland and Victorian case studies. This resulted in the production of Monograph 2 (Bendigo corridor study) and Monograph 3 (Extended Western Region Brisbane corridor study). During this phase workshops were conducted with the project funders and identified stakeholders.
Phase 3 - This phase involved the preparation of two scenarios of possible futures for the two case study regions under investigation, and produced Monograph 4. It asked: "What are the plausible changes in the SEQ/greater Melbourne region's agricultural industry over the life of the SEQ Regional Plan 2005-2026/Melbourne 2030 Plan and the Regional NRM Plan/s, and what will be the consequences of those changes for existing peri-urban areas in these regions?"
Project Code | RMI13 | Principal Investigators | Associate Professor Michael Buxton, RMIT University Associate Professor Darryl Low Choy, Griffith University | ||||
Project Team | RMIT University: George Tieman, Sarah Bekessy, Trevor Budge, Dave Mercer, Matthew Coote, Jo-Anne Morcombe Griffith University: Cassara Sutherland, Brendan Gleeson, Jago Dodson, Neil Sipe | ||||||
Dates | Project completed in June 2008 | ||||||
Publications
Download Monograph 1 »» 
Change and Continuity in Peri-urban Australia Monograph 1. State of the Peri-urban Regions: A Review of the Literature (pdf - 1351KB)
Download Monograph 2 »» Change and Continuity in Peri-urban Australia Monograph 2. Peri-urban Case Study: Bendigo Corridor (pdf - 8548KB)
COMING SOON: Download Monograph 3 »» Change and Continuity in Peri-urban Australia Monograph 3. Peri-urban Case Study: South-East Queensland
Download Monograph 4 »» Change and Continuity in Peri-urban Australia Monograph 4. Peri-urban Futures & Sustainable Development (pdf - 2550KB)
Key Findings and Recommendations
The application of the Agriculturally Declining and Agricultural Revival scenarios to the SEQ and greater Melbourne regions suggests that whilst the peri-urbanisation process will continue, the context in which it will do so could vary greatly from circumstances exemplified by the Agriculturally Declining scenario through to the Agricultural Revival scenario.
As a consequence of these deliberations into how well the current planning and management instruments for each region would perform in the event of either scenario coming into being, the study has recommended that a number of immediate and short term steps be undertaken to improve the policy intent to safeguard the essential values of these peri-urban areas by providing a greater degree of resilience of the existing planning and management instruments. These recommendations include a raft of immediate steps to address: vertical alignment of planning; landscape fragmentation; the process of peri-urbanisation; understanding the new landscape managers; discrete policy attention for agriculture; economic development; climate change impacts and adaptation; and biosecurity threats.
These measures were complemented with a range of proposed short term steps to address: internal coordinating frameworks; a suite of peri-urban planning tools; horizontal alignment of planning; new forms of agricultural production; new forms of non urban industries; the advent of tree farming; and a possible new form of settlement.
This project has only examined two scenarios - the minimum number recommended for a scenario planning exercise of this nature. Both scenarios were centred on the peri-urban agriculture question and provided two extreme insights into possible futures for these dynamic areas which are subject to a number of international, national, state, regional and local drivers of change.
However, other scenarios could also be developed for other questions regarding the possible futures of these regions beside the agriculture one chosen. This could be undertaken in order to gain a fuller appreciation of the adequacy of existing policies and other landscape management instruments in use by various levels of government and natural resource managers.
However, the biggest challenge confronting the future of these peri-urban regions depends on whether there is sufficient and consistent political commitment to the stated visions and policies of the land use planning strategies and the NRM plans for their respective regions. It was consistently noted as a major issue during the course of Phase 2 - the case study research into the SEQ and greater Melbourne regions. It was again to the fore as a result of the deliberations of the assessments of how the existing strategies and plans would be expected to perform under the two scenarios.
Project Aims and Methods
The project's principal aims have been firstly, to investigate the nature and extent of contemporary peri urban regions in Australia, and second, to identify likely future patterns of socio-economic, cultural and natural resource development in peri-urban landscapes.
The first aim was addressed through inductive analysis of peri urban regions in two states - Queensland and Victoria - considering both the immediate rural areas that surround metropolitan areas, and the broader regional settlement system within which major cities are located.
The second aim was approached through an analysis of the historical, contemporary and emergent trends, including institutional actions, that have produced, and which are recasting, Australia's peri-urban regions. This approach was intended to provide the basis for modelling future development scenarios and produce a clear assessment of change and continuity in peri-urban regions.
Two teams of researchers were employed, the Melbourne team associated with RMIT University, and the Brisbane team associated with Griffith University, assisted by specialist scientific, spatial analysis, ecological, social, natural resource and regional expertise.
A project reference group was formed consisting of government and community leaders from both states. Six monthly meetings of this reference group were held to assist coordination, and regular meetings were held between the team leaders.
All stages included considerable emphasis on the dissemination and communication of all results and products.
For further information, please contact:
Associate Professor Michael Buxton School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning, | Associate Professor Darryl Low Choy, Griffith University Urban Research Program, Griffith School of Environment, |
Social and Institutional Research Program
Land & Water Australia
GPO Box 2182, Canberra ACT 2601
Phone: 02 6263 6000
Email: enquiries@lwa.gov.au