Disasters can be good for incumbent governments. Amidst an emergency, budgets can be revised and reallocated in a hurry, framing the government as a ‘saviour,’ issuing contracts to the government’s business clientele and/or prioritising the electoral base more than the victims. Thus elected officials can curry favour with voters and increase their chances of retaining … Continue reading
Is the compact city more likely to materialize if development is guided by the “invisible hand” of the market or the government’s “iron fist”? This article explores this question in the context of Shiraz, a medium-sized, medium-density city in south-central Iran. Through a series of longitudinal analyses, we examine the roles of the market and … Continue reading
New research from another award winning UQ|UP student, Sirena Kwok. Sirena recently graduated from our MURP program. Her research compares two high profile Australian planning cases and finds that local voices are often overwhelmed in the politicised planning system. Download the full text of UQ|UP Research Paper no. 7 below. Continue reading