The Dimensions of Regional Research in Australia

How we pursue regional development in Australia is shaped by a number of factors. It is influenced by the import of ideas - such as industry clustering -from overseas; it is affected by the philosophical and policy positions of the State and Federal Governments; it is dependent upon the relative powers of the various tiers of government - and the degree of mobilisation within communities; and finally, and perhaps most importantly, it is moulded by the experience of regional development practitioners, policy makers and politicians. We only need to reflect upon the reluctance of Australian Governments - of both political persuasions - to engage with urban and regional development issues, to realise how influential the negative experiences of the Department of Urban and Regional Development (DURD) remain to this day.

The sort of research undertaken by academics is one influence shaping the nature of regional policy and practice in Australia. While the translation from research into policy implementation in Australia is not particularly strong - and that critique would apply to many areas of knowledge generation, with the nation a leader in fundamental Research but a laggard in Development - academic debates do filter into the policy community and do influence how regional questions are perceived. It is therefore appropriate that we review current trends in regional research and the implications of those trends for how regional issues appear in policy debates and in the public consciousness.