Queensland small towns Documentary project

This photographic documentary project explores diverse stories of Queensland mining towns. Images compare the interplay between communities, commerce and natural resources. The project is a collaboration between three Brisbane universities (Queensland University of Technology, Griffith University and University of Queensland) and is supported by the Brisbane Powerhouse and the State Library of Queensland. Funded by a $50,000 Arts Queensland grant.

Small towns as 'sub-poles' in English rural development: Investigating rural-urban linkages using sub-regional social accounting matrices

This paper uses spatial economic data from four small English towns to measure the strength of economic integration between town and hinterland and to estimate the magnitude of town-hinterland spill-over effects. Following estimation of local integration indicators and inter-locale flows, sub-regional social accounting matrices (SAMs) are developed to estimate the strength of local employment and output multipliers for various economic sectors. The potential value of a town as a 'sub-pole' in local economic development is shown to be dependent on structural differences in the local economy, such as the particular mix of firms within towns. Although the multipliers are generally small, indicating a low level of local linkages, some sectors, particularly financial services and banking, show consistently higher multipliers for both output and employment. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Governance at community level : small towns in rural Victoria

The 'blurring' of the boundaries between and within public and private sectors has led to new styles of governing that affect the way that rural communities organise themselves. Some have called this a shift from 'government' to 'governance' where there has been a convergence of neo-liberal and communitarian ideologies to form the basis of a new relationship between the state, the market and civil society. We analyse the impact of these converging ideologies using a survey of development groups in 35 towns in rural Victoria and explore the types of community governance that have emerged as a response to changes in those towns that lost their local government authorities in the last decade of the twentieth century.

Victorian local government and women's political participation in small towns.

Rural women were involved in the struggle for women's suffrage in Victoria but their entry into local government has been slower than in urban centres. This paper takes as its starting point Ken Dempsey's analysis of the hegemonic masculine structure of small Victorian towns in the 1980s and Amanda Sinclair's notion of the maternal feminist being the prototype of the rural woman councillor at that time. My study, which is based upon a qualitative interview study with 12 women councillors across rural Victoria during February 2004, reveals that women in small towns are now much more likely to challenge the notion of masculine hegemony by playing a more proactive role in community affairs in small towns. For them, local government service is a logical and practical way to help improve the quality of life in their constituencies. This is also because the traditional rural definition of local government with its main function to ensure adequate infrastructure provision for its ratepayers to maintain viable farming and other productive operations is changing. Furthermore, these women challenged the notion of the maternal feminist by embracing broader political agendas and operating with different representational styles than those associated with previous generation of women on local councils in small towns. On a theoretical level, the paper concludes by suggesting that while the notion of a 'critical mass' in terms of women's political participation is important, there is also a need to explore women's accounts of ‘critical acts’ in the everyday decision-making of local government.

Zoning for small towns and rural counties /

"June 1975."

New towns for old; achievements in civic improvement in some American small towns and neighborhoods,

Mode of access: Internet.

The Role of GIS in DRR: Classifying and Improving GIS Capabilities in Small Towns and Rural Areas

Optimizing GIS capability does not always require that the municipality obtain cutting edge professionals and resources. This paper offers a disaster risk reduction (DRR) design methodology for small towns and rural areas that employs a multi-variable classification system, enabling customization for effective DRR. Determining appropriate GIS capacity requires that a community first be evaluated in order to identify its disaster risk reduction/disaster management (DRR/DM) requirements. These requirements are then considered in conjunction with the municipality's resources to establish the desired capability. Qualification levels for major aspects of GIS capability with respect to DRR/DM are provided along with descriptions of each level and suggested procedures for advancement to the next level. It should be noted that a municipality can be classified at a different level with respect to different variables. Needs vary according to the community, thus attainment of a uniform capability level may not be necessary.

New community governance in small rural towns: the Australian experience

State and federal governments in Australia have developed a range of policy instruments for rural areas in Australia that are infused with a new sense of ‘community’, employing leading concepts like social capital, social enterprise, community development, partnerships and community building. This has encouraged local people and organisations to play a greater role in the provision of their local services and has led to the development of a variety of ‘community’ organisations aimed at stemming social and economic decline. In Victoria, local decision-making, before municipal amalgamations, gave small towns some sense of autonomy and some discretion over their affairs. However, following municipal amalgamations these small towns lost many of the resources—legal, financial, political, informational and organisational—associated with their former municipal status. This left a vacuum in these communities and the outcome was the emergence of local development groups. Some of these groups are new but many of them are organisations that have been reconstituted as groups with a broader community focus. The outcomes have varied from place to place but overall there has been a significant shift in governance processes at community level. This paper looks at the processes of ‘community governance’ and how it applies in a number of case studies in Victoria.

Small Town Downtown Revitalization: Applying the Main Street Approach to the towns of Perth and Carleton Place, Ontario

The downtown main street of small towns is traditionally the economic, cultural, and social heart of the community, thereby requiring particular attention from planners and researchers alike. Considering modern threats to main streets including suburban sprawl and "big box" development, revitalization strategies are essential to ensuring longevity and vitality of small towns’ cores, in terms of economy, built environment, heritage, and identity. The Main Street Approach was established to mitigate challenges by providing a revitalization tool-kit for small Canadian towns, focusing on organization, marketing and promotion, economic and commercial development, and design and physical improvements. To better understand existing municipal tools for downtown revitalization in Ontario, a comparative analysis of the towns of Carleton Place and Perth's policies was conducted using the four pillars of the Main Street Approach as benchmark for best practice, and recommendations for other small towns to better incorporate revitalization policies were suggested.

Small Town Downtown Revitalization: Applying the Main Street Approach to the towns of Perth and Carleton Place, Ontario

The downtown main street of small towns is traditionally the economic, cultural, and social heart of the community, thereby requiring particular attention from planners and researchers alike. Considering modern threats to main streets including suburban sprawl and "big box" development, revitalization strategies are essential to ensuring longevity and vitality of small towns’ cores, in terms of economy, built environment, heritage, and identity. The Main Street Approach was established to mitigate challenges by providing a revitalization tool-kit for small Canadian towns, focusing on organization, marketing and promotion, economic and commercial development, and design and physical improvements. To better understand existing municipal tools for downtown revitalization in Ontario, a comparative analysis of the towns of Carleton Place and Perth's policies was conducted using the four pillars of the Main Street Approach as benchmark for best practice, and recommendations for other small towns to better incorporate revitalization policies were suggested.

Small town sustainability: economic, social, and environmental innovation. 2. überarb. Aufl.

In an age where the globalization process is threatening the uniqueness and vitality of small towns, and where most urban planning discourse is directed at topics such as metropol-regions or mega-regions and world cities, the authors here emphasize the need to critically reflect on the potential of small towns. The second edition is expanded to cover the intensive development of small towns in China and Korea. In addition, the authors examine the impact of the economic crisis on small towns and the recent development of the Slow City movement.

Something rotten in the state of Minnesota: or the morality of backwoodsmen: 'A Simple Plan'

'A Simple Plan' is a deceptively complex and multilayered film, combining elements of Celtic mythology with the morality play and the windfall fantasy gone disastrously wrong. Despite its blending of realism and heavyhanded symbolism, and its abundant trans-textual gestures, 'A Simple Plan' is in many ways defiantly not a 90s movie: its leading characters are fashionably flawed, but they are neither sensitive, nor honourable, nor heroic; there are no startling special effects or intricate timeshifts; and it desperately gives the impression of depth, of being emphatically more than mere superficial excess. At a stretch it almost appears to be a throwback to the 1930s Production Code emphasis on the role of cinema in moral instruction; while good hardly triumphs over evil, venality is painfully and emphatically punished. But in other ways it is a quintessential late 90s film: an American/British/Japanese/German/French co-production, 'A Simple Plan' acts most palpably as a commentary on the moral, economic and social condition of the United States at the end of the American century.