Place-shaping: An Innovative Approach to Rural & Regional Development
The Rural Resurgence Initiative’s argument for a ‘regional resurgence’ and the exploration of ways to achieve it is in line with international trends, namely:
- There is a strong global trend toward the devolution of both political and fiscal authority across developed and developing economies. The World Bank has endorsed and labelled this trend Local Economic Development (LED) However, unlike the 1980s and 1990s, where devolution was initiated and sponsored by parastatals (quasi-governmental organizations, corporations, businesses, or agencies) and NGOs, current trends see devolution to municipal, elected authorities.
- This global trend to devolution, and importantly a strong role for leadership within this, is exemplified by the idea of ‘place-shaping’, which gives centre-stage to the significance of ‘place’, especially in conditions of economic and social decline. Place-shaping was developed by Sir Michael Lyons in his Inquiry into Local Government in England. Place-shaping is supported at both the theoretical and moral levels by a number of currents in contemporary thinking in social science, but, most importantly, the over-arching goal of continued economic growth and prosperity, particularly outside the metropolitan centres.
Place-shaping is an appealing amalgam of important empirical and normative trends and this makes it a powerful basis for contemporary policy formulation alongside political expediency. More specifically, it involves:
- Increased powers for generating income at the local level;
- Articulating a strong idea of local identity and local ‘sense of place’ in particular economic identity and where a community will be in the future – inclusive of environmental sustainability;
- The encouragement of partnerships (with both private enterprise and community-based groups) for service delivery such as aged care; and
- An emphasis on the idea of leadership, both political and administrative.
To some extent our communities already engage in ‘place-shaping’ by branding themselves on the basis of their history/identity/difference as a form of marketing, such as – Glen Innes as ‘Celtic Country’, Tamworth as the ‘Country Music Capital’, Walcha as an ‘Open Air Gallery’ and so on. In all of these instances, councils work in close partnership with business.
The idea of place-shaping is immediately relevant and offers the possibility of exploring council-led economic development and regional resurgence, rather than seeing the regions as recipients of metropolitan welfare with peaks of (seasonally dependant) prosperity or as mere recipients of acts of largesse on the part of state and federal government agencies.
More importantly, it also offers the possibility of re-defining what is meant by prosperity, aligned with the ethical and moral imperatives of our times – environmental sustainability, community sustainability, and also democratic sustainability – something which is usually neglected in contemporary discussions of local and regional development.
The UNE Centre for Local Government (CLG), headed by Professor Brian Dollery, has already undertaken extensive qualitative research into the idea of place-shaping and moreover, through its membership and training programs, the UNE CLG has a considerable network in the region.
This project will explore the following questions, and also ones of policy formulation, with reference to regional and rural areas generally:
- To what extent are councils in the New England/North West (for example) engaging in place-shaping’?
- How is this facilitated/hindered by state legislation and oversight?
- How could the situation be improved?
- Are there ‘exemplars’ in the region in this regard?
Papers on the research which are to be published include:
- ‘Place-shaping by Local Government in Developing Countries: Lessons for the Developed World’ for International Journal of Public Administration.
- ‘What Comes After Regional Status? A Political Economy Approach to Marketing the Wine Of New England-Australia’ for the Inaugural Wine Business Research Symposium, Centre for Organisational Studies, University of Newcastle, December 7th-8th, 2009.
Project team members are extending their research into the Wellington-Blayney-Cabonne Strategic Alliance, to the west of Mudgee in the Central West of NSW, in October-November 2009.
Relevant Publications
Lou Conway and Brian Dollery (May 2009), An Analysis of New England Strategic Alliance Model, Working Paper Series 05-2009, Centre for Local Government, UNE.
Brian Dollery, Bligh Grant, and Sue O’Keefe* (September 08, Online): Local Councils as 'Place-shapers': The Implications of the Lyons Report for Australian Local Government, Australian Journal of Political Science, * LaTrobe University
Bligh Grant, Brian Dollery and Lin Crase* (December 2008): Leadership in Contemporary Local Government Reform: The Lyons Report in England and Implications for Australasian Local Government. Paper presented at the 22nd Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management Conference 2008 – Managing in the Pacific Century, 2-5 December, the University of Auckland, New Zealand. * LaTrobe University
Bligh Grant, Brian Dollery and Lin Crase* (August 2009 Online), 'The Implications of the Lyons Report into Local Government in England for Structural Reform in Australian Local Government', International Journal of Public Administration. * LaTrobe University
Andrew Kelly, Brian Dollery and Bligh Grant (2009): 'Regional development and local government: three generations of federal government intervention', Australiasian Journal of Regional Studies, vol.5, no. 2, pp.171-193.
For more information on the work the Centre for Local Government has done on place-shaping or to contact Professor Brian Dollery or Mr Bligh Grant please access their homepage http://www.une.edu.au/clg/