ABSTRACT
Planning practice and education requires consideration of both universal and local norms... more ABSTRACT Planning practice and education requires consideration of both universal and local norms and methods. It is often firmly embedded in localized issues and practices, yet students need to expand their career horizons and develop more critical, reflective understandings of planning issues in their ‘home’ environment. Internationalized curriculum provides a fertile environment for exploring cross-cultural encounter and reflexive practice using varied planning traditions to situate examples for teaching. The ethical and political implications of working internationally can, however, be masked within the seeming familiarity of shared planning language, concepts and techniques, and the apparent simplicity of comparative frames of reference. Planning is inherently political and contextual, yet the explicit dilemmas of the political and economic setting can, at first, appear hidden during a field project where the apparently universal notions of effective spatial planning are central to the dialogue amongst a diverse student group. Using the example of four joint field/project visits (2010-2014) involving Australian and Sri Lankan planning students in tsunami and conflict affected areas of Sri Lanka, this paper draws on student reflections and observations to explore the explicit encounters with ethical dilemmas, political settings, contingent problem-setting and the implications of these for planning practice within the home setting.
The article argues we can develop and achieve better outcomes for public spaces by involving stak... more The article argues we can develop and achieve better outcomes for public spaces by involving stakeholders of places and spaces in the research process, particularly by developing and applying a model for data collection and analysis based on Appleton’s prospect and refuge theory. This research aims to help planners understand factors relating to reports of fear of crime by presenting findings from a mixed-method study revealing international and domestic university students displayed different perceptions of safety in the regional Australian city of Bendigo. Data include questionnaires completed by 156 students, self-recorded walks and auto-photo-elicitations completed at night in selected sites. Findings show fear of crime is a concern students who were in the central business district which led to their avoidance of certain spaces. Varying presence/absence of people and level of prospect and opportunity for refuge affected students’ feelings of safety at night. Keywords: fear of crime; prospect and refuge; sense of safety; rural and regional, diversity; urban planning
Although plans are made with people as the target, plan-making processes in most instances are do... more Although plans are made with people as the target, plan-making processes in most instances are dominated by top-down approaches, giving very little regard to how people perceive or feel about the cities they live in. The perceptions urban areas trigger and how these cause behavioural changes reflect the implications of planning and decision-making upon them. Prior studies indicate that environmental factors can trigger affective reactions in people. Thus, throughout this study, it was attempted to understand how environmental factors affect University students' perceptions of safety, which were quantified on the basis of their arousal, i.e. the calmness or stress felt, and walking speeds. Data on arousal were captured in real-time by a technically-sound, low-cost device assembled using free and open source software and hardware. The study could demarcate and rank the areas perceived to be " safe " and " unsafe " by the University students in real-time using the assembled device and identify which environmental factors have the most significant influence on their perception of safety. This study introduces the chance to determine unconscious reactions of people by triangulating data gathered by several measurement techniques that are directly measured in the field, which can be served as useful inputs for urban planning. Furthermore, the study confirms the value of the real-time sensing device as a tool beyond traditional methods in understanding feelings of safety in environmental settings.
ABSTRACT Since the 1990s, programmes designed to attract international skilled migrants to work a... more ABSTRACT Since the 1990s, programmes designed to attract international skilled migrants to work and live in regional areas have been a major theme of Australian immigration policy. The success of these programmes depends not only on attracting skilled migrants to regional areas, but also on retaining them within the regions into the longer term. This article argues that residential satisfaction, and specifically economic opportunity, is important in retaining skilled migrants in regional Australia. The research is based on surveys with skilled migrants to regional Victoria who were subject to the State Specific Regional Migration scheme. The satisfaction levels of these immigrants were tested for three satisfaction indices: Community attachment and satisfaction, lifestyle satisfaction and economic and workplace satisfaction. Economic and workplace satisfaction were revealed as being a significant influence on the settlement decision-making process of this study sample. In addition, the opportunities for fulfilling lifestyle and cultural practices and perceptions of secondary and tertiary education facilities emerged as key concerns of the respondents. Finally, this article discusses some policy implications in relation to this programme successfully retaining skilled immigrants.
ABSTRACT
Planning practice and education requires consideration of both universal and local norms... more ABSTRACT Planning practice and education requires consideration of both universal and local norms and methods. It is often firmly embedded in localized issues and practices, yet students need to expand their career horizons and develop more critical, reflective understandings of planning issues in their ‘home’ environment. Internationalized curriculum provides a fertile environment for exploring cross-cultural encounter and reflexive practice using varied planning traditions to situate examples for teaching. The ethical and political implications of working internationally can, however, be masked within the seeming familiarity of shared planning language, concepts and techniques, and the apparent simplicity of comparative frames of reference. Planning is inherently political and contextual, yet the explicit dilemmas of the political and economic setting can, at first, appear hidden during a field project where the apparently universal notions of effective spatial planning are central to the dialogue amongst a diverse student group. Using the example of four joint field/project visits (2010-2014) involving Australian and Sri Lankan planning students in tsunami and conflict affected areas of Sri Lanka, this paper draws on student reflections and observations to explore the explicit encounters with ethical dilemmas, political settings, contingent problem-setting and the implications of these for planning practice within the home setting.
The article argues we can develop and achieve better outcomes for public spaces by involving stak... more The article argues we can develop and achieve better outcomes for public spaces by involving stakeholders of places and spaces in the research process, particularly by developing and applying a model for data collection and analysis based on Appleton’s prospect and refuge theory. This research aims to help planners understand factors relating to reports of fear of crime by presenting findings from a mixed-method study revealing international and domestic university students displayed different perceptions of safety in the regional Australian city of Bendigo. Data include questionnaires completed by 156 students, self-recorded walks and auto-photo-elicitations completed at night in selected sites. Findings show fear of crime is a concern students who were in the central business district which led to their avoidance of certain spaces. Varying presence/absence of people and level of prospect and opportunity for refuge affected students’ feelings of safety at night. Keywords: fear of crime; prospect and refuge; sense of safety; rural and regional, diversity; urban planning
Although plans are made with people as the target, plan-making processes in most instances are do... more Although plans are made with people as the target, plan-making processes in most instances are dominated by top-down approaches, giving very little regard to how people perceive or feel about the cities they live in. The perceptions urban areas trigger and how these cause behavioural changes reflect the implications of planning and decision-making upon them. Prior studies indicate that environmental factors can trigger affective reactions in people. Thus, throughout this study, it was attempted to understand how environmental factors affect University students' perceptions of safety, which were quantified on the basis of their arousal, i.e. the calmness or stress felt, and walking speeds. Data on arousal were captured in real-time by a technically-sound, low-cost device assembled using free and open source software and hardware. The study could demarcate and rank the areas perceived to be " safe " and " unsafe " by the University students in real-time using the assembled device and identify which environmental factors have the most significant influence on their perception of safety. This study introduces the chance to determine unconscious reactions of people by triangulating data gathered by several measurement techniques that are directly measured in the field, which can be served as useful inputs for urban planning. Furthermore, the study confirms the value of the real-time sensing device as a tool beyond traditional methods in understanding feelings of safety in environmental settings.
ABSTRACT Since the 1990s, programmes designed to attract international skilled migrants to work a... more ABSTRACT Since the 1990s, programmes designed to attract international skilled migrants to work and live in regional areas have been a major theme of Australian immigration policy. The success of these programmes depends not only on attracting skilled migrants to regional areas, but also on retaining them within the regions into the longer term. This article argues that residential satisfaction, and specifically economic opportunity, is important in retaining skilled migrants in regional Australia. The research is based on surveys with skilled migrants to regional Victoria who were subject to the State Specific Regional Migration scheme. The satisfaction levels of these immigrants were tested for three satisfaction indices: Community attachment and satisfaction, lifestyle satisfaction and economic and workplace satisfaction. Economic and workplace satisfaction were revealed as being a significant influence on the settlement decision-making process of this study sample. In addition, the opportunities for fulfilling lifestyle and cultural practices and perceptions of secondary and tertiary education facilities emerged as key concerns of the respondents. Finally, this article discusses some policy implications in relation to this programme successfully retaining skilled immigrants.
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Papers by G.R Ratnayake
Planning practice and education requires consideration of both universal and local norms and methods. It is often firmly embedded in localized issues and practices, yet students need to expand their career horizons and develop more critical, reflective understandings of planning issues in their ‘home’ environment. Internationalized curriculum provides a fertile environment for exploring cross-cultural encounter and reflexive practice using varied planning traditions to situate examples for teaching. The ethical and political implications of working internationally can, however, be masked within the seeming familiarity of shared planning language, concepts and techniques, and the apparent simplicity of comparative frames of reference. Planning is inherently political and contextual, yet the explicit dilemmas of the political and economic setting can, at first, appear hidden during a field project where the apparently universal notions of effective spatial planning are central to the dialogue amongst a diverse student group. Using the example of four joint field/project visits (2010-2014) involving Australian and Sri Lankan planning students in tsunami and conflict affected areas of Sri Lanka, this paper draws on student reflections and observations to explore the explicit encounters with ethical dilemmas, political settings, contingent problem-setting and the implications of these for planning practice within the home setting.
and auto-photo-elicitations completed at night in selected sites. Findings show fear of crime is a concern students who were in the central business district which led to their avoidance of certain spaces. Varying presence/absence of people and level of prospect and opportunity for refuge affected students’ feelings of safety at night.
Keywords: fear of crime; prospect and refuge; sense of safety; rural and regional, diversity; urban planning
Planning practice and education requires consideration of both universal and local norms and methods. It is often firmly embedded in localized issues and practices, yet students need to expand their career horizons and develop more critical, reflective understandings of planning issues in their ‘home’ environment. Internationalized curriculum provides a fertile environment for exploring cross-cultural encounter and reflexive practice using varied planning traditions to situate examples for teaching. The ethical and political implications of working internationally can, however, be masked within the seeming familiarity of shared planning language, concepts and techniques, and the apparent simplicity of comparative frames of reference. Planning is inherently political and contextual, yet the explicit dilemmas of the political and economic setting can, at first, appear hidden during a field project where the apparently universal notions of effective spatial planning are central to the dialogue amongst a diverse student group. Using the example of four joint field/project visits (2010-2014) involving Australian and Sri Lankan planning students in tsunami and conflict affected areas of Sri Lanka, this paper draws on student reflections and observations to explore the explicit encounters with ethical dilemmas, political settings, contingent problem-setting and the implications of these for planning practice within the home setting.
and auto-photo-elicitations completed at night in selected sites. Findings show fear of crime is a concern students who were in the central business district which led to their avoidance of certain spaces. Varying presence/absence of people and level of prospect and opportunity for refuge affected students’ feelings of safety at night.
Keywords: fear of crime; prospect and refuge; sense of safety; rural and regional, diversity; urban planning