Functional remoteness in sparsely populated areas of Australia
Functional remoteness in sparsely populated areas of Australia Conference Paper
ANZSEE Conference, Thriving Through Transformation – Local to Global Sustainability
- Author(s): Lovell, Judith
- Published: 2015
Abstract: Throughout a seven-year research cycle (2003-2010) the Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation (CRC-REP) has focused its programs towards positively impacting in remote Australia in the three domains of Investing in People, Enterprise Development and Regional Economies. A synthesis of the research programmes of the CRC-REP instigated in 2014 investigates themes pertinent to remote residents and settlements, and the stakeholders and partners invested in this national collaborative research endeavour. The most overarching of themes is that of ‘remoteness’ because it informs research and policy, development and innovation and yet there are disjunctions in the ways remote and urban thinkers conceptualise place-based remoteness as functional or dysfunctional. This article sets out to describe functional remoteness as it informs innovations which are ‘creating successful business models for remote locations to ensure long-term growth, employment and improved livelihoods’ (Ninti One Limited, 2014). In each scenario functional innovation relies on local people, whose knowledge and culture are assets, and whose connection to the cultural and natural resources of remote Australia is reliant upon complex property rights and rights of access. In Australia, innovation has not yet been considered through a framework that encompasses geographic remoteness as a relational and spatial driver that empowers community and industry to create and meet market opportunities. This article presents a nascent synthesis of ‘functional remoteness’; remote economic participation achieved through functional place-based and complex local systems, and the dynamics between them and the multi-agent regimes with which they interact, locally and globally.
- Urls: http://anzsee.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Lovell_Functional-remoteness-in-sparsely-populated-areas-of-Australia_final-unlinked-header1.pdf
- Publisher Location: University of New England, Armidale
- Keywords: Functional remoteness, transitional sustainability, complex systems, Australia