Program Leader: Dr. Ralph Horne
Program Manager: to be confirmed

How will cities respond to the increasing demands on their infrastructure? What kinds of planning are needed?

The growing environmental footprints of cities in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region are intensifying the consumption of natural resources and creating growing problems of pollution and waste disposal. Additionally, there is growing sociospatial inequality and problems of social exclusion, increasing the likelihood of urban social conflict. This research program will primarily address social and environmental sustainability in cities experiencing global economic forces, as well as on the impacts of and policy responses to climate change at the systemic level of cities and their regions. Whereas the Program on ‘Community Sustainability and Social Infrastructure’ emphasizes the social dimension of sustainability, this Program emphasizes the physical infrastructure side of adaptation to globalization and climate change. The emphasis throughout will be on developing adaptive strategies to ameliorate the globally induced urban pressures; thus the program will have a strong applied research and public-policy cast.