Phil McManus
Phil McManus is a Professor of Urban and Environmental Geography at the University of Sydney. He is currently researching urban transport infrastructure, sustainable cities and human-animal relations through the global horseracing industry.
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Papers by Phil McManus
The book draws on in-depth, mixed-method research into the racing and breeding industries in the US, Australia, the UK, Canada and New Zealand, and includes comparative material on other key racing centres, such as Ireland, Singapore and Hong Kong. It explores the economic structure of the global racing business, including comparisons with other major international sport businesses and other equestrian sports. It examines the social and cultural roots of the sport through its association with, and impact on, rural places, communities and environments from Kentucky to Newmarket – highlighting racing’s particular blend of tradition and scientific and technological innovation. The book also explores the ethical issues at the heart of horseracing, from reproduction to the use of the whip, and the inescapable tension between the horse as an instrumentally valuable commodity and the horse as an intrinsically valuable animal with needs and interests.
The Global Horseracing Industry concludes by considering alternative futures for this major international sports business. The book is illuminating reading for anybody with an interest in sport, business, cultural geography, animal studies, or environmental studies.
case study of Northparkes Mines in central west New South Wales (NSW). The research involved 29 interviews with mining executives, environmental consultants and citizens of
Parkes, plus a document analysis of four environmental impact statements prepared between 1990 and 2012. Where appropriate, findings were extrapolated to the wider
mining industry. The standard for social impact assessment in NSW and emerging industry guidelines on social responsibility were analysed against internationally accepted good
practice. Interviews indicated greater potential to recognise the social impacts of mining in NSW and identified good practice impact assessment as only one component of a successful
community engagement strategy. Complementary strategies are essential to extend the benefits of development to local communities and for companies to establish a ‘social licence
to operate’. The successful approach taken by Northparkes Mines combined good practice impact assessment with a localised workforce, an integrated management team and context specific community engagement practices. This study highlights that local communities can be empowered through development, that benefits can extend to both the community and the business and that the ongoing management of social issues will increasingly be critical to the success of the mining industry.
socio-economic development. While planning for sustainability at a regional scale is vital, it is also necessary to understand material and discursive networks that connect regions with other spaces
Rural life in the Upper Hunter Region of NSW is threatened by the mining and burning of coal and coal seam gas extraction. Extensive open-cut mining is a serious threat to productive rural enterprises between Singleton and Muswellbrook, while mining and gas extraction is expanding into communities on the Liverpool Plains and around Gloucester. The marginalisation of rural life has economic, environmental and sociocultural dimensions. Economically, the marginalisation of rural life refers to declining food production, threatened rural industries such as thoroughbred breeding and viticulture, and to the loss of commercial services in rural towns. Environmental damage includes air and water pollution, biodiversity loss, destruction of aquifers and waterways, and the loss of fertile agricultural land. Socio-cultural impacts include threats to human health, rising income inequality, depopulation of villages, and damage to the fabric of rural communities from mining incursion. The article examines the competing scripts employed in land use contests and how communities are using new and reflexive constructions of ‘the rural’ that integrate traditional identity, discourses of sustainability and the re-centring of rural life. This analysis illuminates the current situation of marginalisation and the possible future of rural life in the Upper Hunter and surrounding areas.
Keywords: coal mining, coal seam gas, Australia, agriculture, rural communities