Table of Contents
Economic geography and regional development
Global Commodity Prices and Regional Development Outcomes
Resource Dependence and Socio-Economic Wellbeing: A Quantitative Assessment
Economic restructuring and small towns in the Western Australian wheatbelt
Liveability in Perth
Spatial Economic Analysis and Regional Development
The Geography and Regulation of Contentious Land-Uses
From Dreamscape to Blandscape? Social, Economic, Environmental and Cultural Meaning, Symbolism and Life in Suburbia
The appropriateness of a hierarchy of activity nodes as a city structuring device under current economic growth trends/dynamics/patterns and in the Perth city development context
From a dot on a map in a plan to a viable urban activity node in practice– what are the critical success factors?
Exploring the trade-off between housing and transport costs of households
Understanding train patronage trends in Perth
Validating crowd sourced GPS data for congestion management
Bimodal distribution of travel speed
Optimal locations of charging stations for electric vehicles
How Accessible are Perth’s Activity Centres?
Access to Jobs and Services
Making Public Transport a Mode of Choice
The value of travel time: Productive travel time
Regional Geographies of Innovation, Productivity and Worker Connectivity
Global Industrial Network Geometries
International Socio-Economic Spatial Analysis
Natural hazards, risk and vulnerability
Planning and emergency Management/Disaster Management
Development of high resolution land-use land-cover classification of Perth neighbourhoods in relation to physical activity
Does Ownership Matter? Examining Hazard Preparedness of Renters and Absentee Homeowners in conjunction with the Department of Fire and Emergency Services
Is Recovery Really Community Centric? The Role of Community in Disaster Recovery
Various collaborations with the Business School
Urban Heat Island: Examining the role of the Built Environment on Increased Morbidity and Mortality in Perth
Flooding: good for the environment but when does it become a disaster?
WA Flood Risk: A comprehensive assessment of current flood studies to compare and contrast risk.
The role of geospatial technology in participatory mapping for flood-prone regions in Cambodia
The role of geospatial technology in participatory mapping for flood-prone regions in Fiji
Geography and Health I
Geography and Health II
Urban Ecosystem Services
Urban Aboriginal Wellbeing
Gender and Mobility amongst Aboriginal Australians
Aboriginal Presence in Perth
Geographies of Educational Disadvantage amongst Adolescents in Kenya
Social Demography, Migrants, and Regional development
Promoting just and inclusive community development in larger and smaller cities
The role of ecological research information in the urban planning process: mapping ecological knowledge and needs against the West Australian planning system
Biodiversity & conservation patterns in the novel ecological systems of West Australian cities: studying socio-cultural contexts in Perth’s front gardens & public parks
Promoting healthy urban nightscapes in an climate of global change: the ecological and planning challenges of artificial lighting at night in Perth.
Representations of identity and belonging in the West Australian city: exploring and advancing the just and inclusive Perth
Physical drivers of reef carbonate sediment budgets
Seasonal variability in the morphology of reef-protected beaches
Quantifying storm impacts at moderate-energy beaches
Biogeomorphlogy of south coast rivers: Patterns of river change and vegetation degradation
Climate Change and Transforming River Hydrology in SW WA
Water balance of “mega” Lake Woods
Coastal Planning and Development in Western Australia
Microbialte Ecohydrology and Sedimentology
South West Western Australia Hydrogeology and Ecohydrology
Measuring the influence of the childcare indoor and outdoor environment on early health behaviour
The Built Environment and Child Health and Development
Project: /Economic geography and regional development
For majors including: / Geography; Urban and Regional PlanningSupervisor: / Matthew Tonts, , 6488 2683
Description: / Please come and discuss ideas relating to topics in economic geography and regional development. This can include a range of topics across urban economies, regions, development and so on.
Project: /
Global Commodity Prices and Regional Development Outcomes
For majors including: / Geography; Urban and Regional PlanningSupervisor: / Matthew Tonts, , 6488 2683
Description: / Changes in global commodity prices have significant implications for regional development. To date, however, few studies have attempted to quantify how commodity prices affect investment, employment and population change
Project: /
Resource Dependence and Socio-Economic Wellbeing: A Quantitative Assessment
For majors including: / Geography; Urban and Regional PlanningSupervisor: / Matthew Tonts, , 6488 2683
Description: / There is an extensive North American literature that examines the relationship between dependence on the resource sector and levels of socio-economic wellbeing in small resource towns. This study replicates an analysis based on 2006 census data with newer data available from the 2011 census
Project: /
Economic restructuring and small towns in the Western Australian wheatbelt
For majors including: / Geography; Urban and Regional PlanningSupervisor: / Matthew Tonts, , 6488 2683
Description: / This project examines the issue of uneven development in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. It builds on earlier research but examining how wider processes of economic restructuring have affected the local economic, social and demographic characteristics of the Wheatbelt.
Project: /
Liveability in Perth
For majors including: / Geography; Urban and Regional PlanningSupervisor: / Matthew Tonts, , 6488 2683
Description: / This is less of a specific project, and more of a potential for students to engage in projects developed in consultant with the Committee for Perth. The Committee for Perth have interests spanning Perth's economic development, demography, social structure etc. and how these relate to liveability and, ultimately, public policy.
Project: /
Spatial Economic Analysis and Regional Development
For majors including: / Geography; Urban and Regional PlanningSupervisor: / Paul Plummer,
Description: / Please email to make an appointment to discuss ideas related to topics in economic geography and regional economic analysis. This can include a range of topics, but especially geographies of local labour markets, regional competitiveness and socio-economic wellbeing in resource communities.
Project: /
The Geography and Regulation of Contentious Land-Uses
For majors including: / Urban & Regional PlanningSupervisor: / Paul Maginn, , 6488 2711
Description: / This is less a specific topic and more a general theme for students to consider projects in relation to the geographical trends and patterns and regulations surrounding various forms of ‘contentious land-uses’ (e.g. fast food outlets, bottle shops, bars/hotels, gambling spaces, places of worship, and sexual services/entertainment).
Project: /
From Dreamscape to Blandscape? Social, Economic, Environmental and Cultural Meaning, Symbolism and Life in Suburbia
For majors including: / Urban & Regional PlanningSupervisor: / Paul Maginn, , 6488 2711
Description: / The ‘great Australian dream’ is premised on the notion that Australians have the ‘right’ to purchase and live on their own ¼ acre block of land. Increasingly, for people to realise this dream they have had to move to the outer suburbs where land and housing have been historically cheaper. In an era of dominated by sustainable development the suburbs and suburbanites have been increasingly cast as the proponents of unsustainability, living in soulless places and suffering from all manner of health problems – social, mental and physical. By way of contrast, the inner-suburbs have often been portrayed as more sustainable, accessible and neighbourly. This project seeks to explore life in suburbia by focusing on what’s good and what’s bad about living in the outer- and inner- suburbs from the perspective of suburbanites. This is an integrated longitudinal case-study project whereby up to 3-4 students will individually focus on at least 2 case study suburbs – 1 inner and 1 outer metropolitan - to explore various aspects of suburban environments and life via (i) conducting a household survey to gauge people’s attitudes and experiences and (ii) analysing other, largely primary data, on some other major aspect of the suburbs.
Project: /
The appropriateness of a hierarchy of activity nodes as a city structuring device under current economic growth trends/dynamics/patterns and in the Perth city development context
For majors including: / Geography, Urban and Regional PlanningSupervisor: / Sharon Biermann, , 6488 3385
Description: / A hierarchy of activity centres has been identified in recent planning policy (Directions 2031 (August 2010)) as a city structuring element so that new growth occurs in a “more balanced way” (Directions 2031, p 33). Starting from the basis of classical urban location theory, this project seeks to investigate the applicability and relevance of a hierarchy of activity nodes in the context of current economic growth dynamics and trends and in the Perth development context. The project would entail a spatial analysis of economic growth trends and travel patterns to examine the underlying assumption of urban hierarchy theory that people will neatly travel first locally and then increasingly further for higher order activities. A possible approach would be to select a specific existing centre from each level of the proposed hierarchy in Direction 2031 and analyse the “catchment area” for each.
Project: /
From a dot on a map in a plan to a viable urban activity node in practice– what are the critical success factors?
For majors including: / Geography, Urban and Regional PlanningSupervisor: / Sharon Biermann, , 6488 3385
Description: / Strategic city plans usually contain ambitious and noble proposals of locations where future economic growth will be accommodated, often presented as a series of dots on a map, possibly of different sizes to indicate different intensities or levels in a hierarchy. In reality, very few of these nodes materialise significantly in practice with a strong body of evidence to suggest that the areas with the greatest economic growth potential are those where economic growth trends are already strong and that new primary nodes are most likely to emerge in relation to high income residential areas. The intention of this project would be to explore the factors which are important in predicting the location of new economic growth in the urban context from the literature and to occur through a spatial analysis of economic growth trends in relation to the range of factors identified in the literature, recommending which are the best predictors of new growth. The proposed activity centres in Directions 2013 could then be broadly assessed against the outcomes of the analysis to provide a prognosis for success.
Project: /
Exploring the trade-off between housing and transport costs of households
For majors including: / Geography, Urban and Regional PlanningSupervisor: / Sharon Biermann, , 6488 3385
Description: / City planning and policy documents are unanimous in their calls for more affordable housing yet housing costs continue to be a major and often inhibitive household expenditure item. Households respond by moving to the urban periphery where housing is cheaper yet transport costs may be higher. These same plans and policies promote higher densities along public transport corridors and closer to the city centre to counteract urban sprawl and increase public transport ridership. These locations may have lower transport costs but housing costs are generally higher due to higher land cost and building costs (for multi-storey housing). From the perspective of the household, analyse average annual household expenditure on housing and transport in relation to household location and attempt to understand the trade-offs households make between housing and transport costs.
Project: /
Understanding train patronage trends in Perth
For majors including: / Geography, Urban and Regional PlanningSupervisor: / Sharon Biermann, , 6488 3385
Description: / Using SmartRider train patronage data, investigate recent claims of declining patronage across the Perth rail system. Consider spatial differences for different train lines. Analyse patronage trends in relation to demographic, economic, housing, train capacity and quality (such as overcrowding) metrics (amongst others) in an attempt to explain the patronage trends you find. Perth trends could be considered in relation to trends in other Australian cities and the dynamics compared.
Project: /
Validating crowd sourced GPS data for congestion management
For majors including: / Geography, Urban and Regional PlanningSupervisor: / Chao Sun, Chao Sun, 6488 8720
Description: / There has been a lack of reliable ways of measuring road network performance. Coverage is one of the largest challenges facing traditional data collection methods. Road counters and loop detectors located at traffic signals and freeways are the most commonly used sources in Australia. However, these are sparse point counts that do not necessarily reflect conditions over the distance of the roads. Floating car surveys (actually driving along routes) can provide route based information but their application is severely limited by their high costs.
In recent years, the prevalence of GPS devices has made crowd sourcing for road performance monitoring possible. However, much of the data is synthesised from taxis and trucks, which introduce sample bias into the data sets. This research will validate the GPS data from one particular provider by using Main Roads WA’s existing floating car survey results. It will help Main Roads WA make an informed decision on whether crowd sourced GPS data is a viable alternative to floating car surveys.
Project: /
Bimodal distribution of travel speed
For majors including: / Geography, Urban and Regional PlanningSupervisor: / Chao Sun, Chao Sun, 6488 8720
Description: / Individual travel speeds on a section of road sometimes follows a normal distribution, which is expected. However, on other occasions they might follow a bimodal distribution (the combination of two normal distributions) - at the same time, on the same section of road, it appears that there is one group of individuals moving more slowly than another group. This has been observed by researchers and has been recently confirmed by crowd-sourced GPS data that we have access to. Some authors suspect the bimodal distribution is caused by traffic lights. However, our data has shown that this has been observed on freeways where no traffic lights are present. This project will use crowd sourced GPS data in combination with other sources such as Main Roads WA’s loop detectors to determine the causes of bimodal distribution.
Project: /
Optimal locations of charging stations for electric vehicles
For majors including: / Geography, Urban and Regional PlanningSupervisor: / Chao Sun, Chao Sun, 6488 8720
Description: / Electric vehicles (EVs) have become increasingly mature. However, range anxiety is still being labelled as its major obstacle, although some high performance EVs can already match their fossil fuel counterparts. Many manufactures have promised easy access to charging stations as a way to overcome this anxiety so the location and number of these stations become an important decision. It involves trade-offs between conflicting goals. This project will look at how to set the criteria to achieve the best balance. A GIS and/or traffic modelling package will need to be used for modelling.
Project: /
How Accessible are Perth’s Activity Centres?
For majors including: / Geography, Urban and Regional PlanningSupervisor: / Sharon Biermann and Gary McCarney, 6488 3385
Description: / The WAPC’s State Planning Policy 4.2 Activity Centres for Perth and Peel (August 2010) identifies a number of existing and proposed new centres where future growth is to be concentrated. This planning approach is reinforced in the Draft Perth and Peel @ 3.5 million Frameworks released for public comment in May 2015. But just how accessible are these centres by public transport – and by car? How easy is it to get to UWA, for example? Are these centres in the most accessible locations and if not which locations are? For those centres with poor access, how could access be improved?
This research project is to investigate these questions, and any other issues that may arise, using raw accessibility data that would be provided to the student in a spreadsheet from the Departments of Transport and Planning transport model, STEM.
Project: /
Access to Jobs and Services
For majors including: / Geography, Urban and Regional PlanningSupervisor: / Sharon Biermann and Gary McCarney, 6488 3385
Description: / As Perth’s population grows and Perth’s footprint expands, more and more people will be living in the outer areas of Perth, further and further away from the concentration of jobs and services in the central core. But is this an issue? How accessible does an area need to be to be “accessible enough”. How does this affect social inclusion, vulnerability etc? How does access to jobs and services for someone living in, say, Subiaco compare with someone living in, say, Byford? How is access to jobs and services likely to change over time as Perth expands and congestion increases?
This research project is to investigate these questions, and any other issues that may arise, using raw data of how many jobs can be accessed within 30 minutes and 45 minutes by car or public transport from different areas covering the Perth and Peel region, which would be provided to the student in a spreadsheet.
Project: /
Making Public Transport a Mode of Choice
For majors including: / Geography, Urban and Regional PlanningSupervisor: / Sharon Biermann and Gary McCarney, 6488 3385
Description: / There is considerable debate in Perth over how congestion can be addressed as Perth expands to 3.5 million and beyond. Increased public transport, such as light rail, is being considered. But just how competitive is public transport compared to the car and how can it be made more competitive? What impacts would rising fuel costs have, or free public transport?
This research project is to investigate these questions, and any other issues that may arise, using a simple spreadsheet calculator that would be provided. The calculator compares the relative costs of travel, including time, for car, public transport and cycle trips. It has a number of parameters affecting travel time and cost, eg. value of time, car operating costs, bus fares and parking charges. The values can be adjusted, eg. PT fares set to zero, to determine the potential impact on mode choice.
Project: /
The value of travel time: Productive travel time