DRIVING CHANGE IN PERI-URBAN AREAS :
AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE PERTH HILLS
Colleen Yates , Erik Stanton-Clements , Peter Newman
ABSTRACT The natural , agricultural and rural characteristics that attract residents and visitors to peri-urban areas are an overlooked economic development opportunity . These characteristics come with unique challenges in relation to funding , infrastructure , bushfire safety , the conservation of bushland and agricultural land , and the design of periurban settlements that can help solve or challenge the resolution of these issues .
This paper seeks to show how to drive change that can enable economic development that helps resolve these issues . Regional Development Australia Perth ( RDA Perth ) has been driving change on many projects and four processes have been extracted from this work to create a Driving Change Process that builds on the notion of social capital as the foundation for economic investment . The steps of the process are documented and case study evidence provided . These four processes are then applied to the Perth Hills as a case study in peri-urban economic development . A core conclusion is the requirement for Perth Hills Future – a not-for-profit association and community peak body focussed on empowering the community to drive change across the Perth Hills – to enable the social capital of the Perth Hills to be mobilized . The next step is to show how this social capital can help create a Hills-oriented urban fabric to drive sustainable economic development .
INTRODUCTION If we want prosperity , we might begin by working to restore the fabric of community . Robert Putnam , Bowling Alone ( Putnam , 2000 )
What do we mean by the fabric of community ? Is it about a place ? Is it about how people live in a community ? Is it about the nature and ecology of a place ? How does it relate to the design of the settlement fabric ? What does this have to do with the economy of a place ? The process set out in this article suggests that the way to find out is to help create an accountable and effective community as the basis for answering all these questions . Putnam ’ s quote above is part of a lifetime of work demonstrating that social capital
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