Future Regions Lab

SustainaMineForward

Interest in green technologies and energy storage systems has increased under growing recognition of a need for world-wide action on climate change, national concerns on resource security and supply chain vulnerabilities. Globally, government and industry have responded by accelerating technology adoption, strengthening local supply chains and focusing on carbon-zero production.

This project aims to better understand the emerging dynamics of the global mining industry. This includes the role of junior miners in industry development, the decarbonisation agenda, consumer-led narratives of ‘quality’ and Australia’s shift into upstream production particularly in the processing of critical mineral and battery manufacturing. It is a collaboration between Associate Professor Kirsten Martinus and Dr Adriana Nunez Picado, with support received from the Future Battery Industries Cooperative Research Council.

Innovation in the peripheries

This project focuses on understanding and conceptualising the different dynamics and processes associated with innovation by actors in peripheral environments. It is motived by a shared belief that contemporary normative connotations of laggardness, backwardness, dependence, weakness, and disadvantage associated with the word ‘periphery’, are unfounded and misplaced. As such, the project boldly challenges such misconceptions and presumptions, opening a space for more constructive conceptualisations and theorisation.

The project’s central question is not whether innovation occurs in geographic peripheries, but how it occurs in some, and why not in others. It explores how geographic peripherality can be juxtaposed with, and is independent of, other types of peripherality. It examines the social and economic differences between cores and peripheries, distinguishing between peripheries as locations (i.e. places with certain quantifiable attributes situated relative to other places with other attributes) and peripheries as positions in economic, power and network contexts in which agents (not necessarily peripheral themselves) are located. In doing so, it also problematises cores, which are likewise both locations and positions within which agents (not necessarily central themselves) act. The project is a collaboration between Associate Professor Kirsten Martinus (UWA), Professor Johannes Glueckler (Heidelberg University) and Professor Richard Shearmur (McGill University), with funding support received from ARC DECRA Fellowship (grant no. DE170100727).

Rails to prosperity

Better connectivity is a recognised driver of more equal regional economic development, as economic growth tends to occur more easily and rapidly around large urban centres. Rural areas are often ‘left behind’, even though their resource exports – e.g. agriculture – are significant to national wealth. The upgrading of transport and communications networks is thus key in enabling rural areas to sell products competitively.

This project examines impacts of the Trans-Sulawesi railway on adjacent rural communities, specifically vulnerable workers. It is in collaboration with Professor Anu Rammohan (UWA) and the Depart Foreign Affairs and Trade, Partnership for Australian-Indonesia Research (PAIR).

PassionateGrowth: Rural economic diversification, local production and entrepreneurship

This project explores the diversification of rural or peri-urban economies. In Australia, these economies can be generally characterised as having many small to medium firms in agriculture and tourism related industries. Economic diversification often emerges through the innovative and entrepreneurial activities of both firm and non-firms – and frequently via a process that taps into human passion.

The project investigates how local innovation and entrepreneurship enhances local production in rural or peri-urban economies. This includes the emergence of experiential agritourism, joint hobbyist/commercial communities of practice, new ways firms create and capture value and alternative agricultural practices, e.g. regenerative agriculture. This project was funded by ARC DECRA Fellowship (grant no. DE170100727) and in part by WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development; with Associate Professor Kirsten Martinus having collaborative projects with Professor Jun Suzuki (GRIPS, Tokyo, Japan), Associate Professor Bryan Boruff (UWA), Dr Adriana Nunez Picado (UWA) and Louisa Chalmers.

Beyond borders: Understanding globalisation and regional economies

This project seeks to understand the global connectivity of industry and society using social network analysis to map multinational corporation relations. Specifically, it aims to highlight:

• How the resource (mining and energy) industry has shaped the relations between cities and peripheries,
• The relationship between corporate headquarter locations, industry locations and tax haven,
• The influence of different proximity types (social, institutional, cultural, industry, etc) on firm location and global corporate connectivity,
• The relationship between different industries, particularly to the finance sector,
• Cross-border migration, business, labour and financial flows in the context of national security and policy responses.

The project provides critical insight into how global corporate relations connect with local economies.

The project received previous funding from The University of Western Australia, University of Queensland, ARC Discovery Project (grant no. DP170104359). Current project collaborators are Associate Professor Kirsten Martinus, Associate Professor Thomas Sigler (University of Queensland), Dr Adriana Nunez (UWA) Picado and Anita Herlina (PhD student, UWA).

Structural inequality, employment targets and planning policy

Increased urbanisation and spatial inequality across cities have created significant land use challenges in terms of infrastructure, housing and employment provision, particularly in outer suburban or peri-urban areas. Government policy responses often include regional job-housing targets, such as self-sufficiency, self-containment and jobs housing ratios, to inform the level of infrastructure, housing and employment provision which is needed to address job-housing imbalances. How city or state governments decide what is appropriate for different areas is often unclear and simplistic.

This project explores alternative ways of understanding employment distribution across strategic and population-driven job types, and how this might translate to policy and practice in urban planning and economic development.

It is a collaboration between Associate Professor Kirsten Martinus and Professor Sharon Biermann (UWA); with funding support from the Planning and Transport Research Centre (PATREC).

EcoCrisisResponse

This project looks broadly at the intersect between regional development, urban planning and ecological crisis in the face of fears regarding the risk of pandemics and climate change, urbanisation and population increases. It seeks to understand the following areas:

• The intersect between ecological crisis, on-going urbanisation and population increases, novel disease emergence and supply chain disruption
• How stakeholder networks influence urban greening and ecosystems recover

The project is particularly focus on the understanding emerging patterns and appropriate policy responses. It is various collaborations between Associate Professor Kirsten Martinus, Dr Natasha Pauli (UWA) and Associate Professor Marit Kragt.

Dangerous work and labour advice networks

Mining refineries are recognised in Australia as highly hazardous workplaces. They use chemicals which are generally toxic to human health and the environment, as well as use extremely high temperatures in product reduction and drying processes. Strict occupational health and safety, communications and environmental regulatory processes are used across refinery work crews, as accidents at the refinery may cause death, permanent health issues or environmental catastrophe.

This project investigates a network of Australian refinery shift workers, daytime specialists and technicians, and managers to understand information blockages, knowledge flows, advice networks, etc. It is a collaboration between Associate Professor Kirsten Martinus, Professor Emmanuel Lazega (Sciences Po) and Peng Wang (Swinburne University).

Future@Work

Advancements in technology and social media platforms have enabled new and emerging ways to engage with work and employment. For example, workers in the gig economy are considered self-employed or independent contractors who offer services whenever they choose through digital platforms. Gig workers now offer a range of ride-share, food or grocery delivery, on-line tutoring, graphic design, etc services to clients. Another form of digitally enabled workers are digital nomads who use technology to work remotely so they can travel and live anywhere in the world which has access to the Internet. They are often professionals who do free-lance work but can also work for companies that support their nomadic lifestyle.

Despite the rise of digitally enabled work types, limited research to date has examined how technology is revolutionising employment, the dynamics of such a lifestyle, and the impact of this workforce on land use planning, e.g. employment centres. This project aims to investigate these areas. Current project collaborators are Associate Professor Kirsten Martinus and Associate Professor Thomas Sigler (University of Queensland).