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Since Western lifestyles can foster obesity and other problems, attention is turning to active travel (AT) as a means of increasing physical activity for both adults and children. Children's routines regularly focus on trips to and from school which can admit walking and other AT. Yet promoting such an approach encounters a problem around the relative influence on AT of urban form and family decision making. To address it, this study applies the recently-constructed Model of Children's Active Travel (M-CAT). Via its formulations, two field sites in Queensland, Australia, were selected based on objective physical characteristics, determined as supportive and not supportive of children's AT. Parents of 206 children aged 9 to 12 years were surveyed. While 43% reported that their children used AT, a significant difference was observed among children dwelling in areas identified as having high as opposed to low support. Behind this clear result, objective attributes of the physical environment, parents' perceptions and evaluations of urban form and child and family characteristics link in intricate ways to determine children's level of engagement. The inquiry argues for an interdisciplinary approach involving urban designers, planners and health care professionals to address a complex physical and social interaction.

Allied to notions of late modernity, Ulrich Beck’s “risk society” has found relevance in light of recent technological and global economic crises. By means of focus group research undertaken in Queensland, Australia, this article explores the relation of such concepts and dislocations to home ownership, property rights and place attachment, asking to what extent home ownership can be seen as a depository and remedy for the consequences of Beckian uncertainty. The findings are that, whereas the Maslovian attributes of safety, security and belongingness continue to be the root of contemporary home ownership, its meaning is elaborated when higher-order concepts such as lifestyle, identity, social capital and trust, and ontological security are entered into the analysis. Moreover, the traditional use value of a home is now intertwined with exchange value, though the latter is interpreted not proactively but more in a defensive sense.

Affordability is thus a keynote of our enquiry, the aim being to shed greater light on the concept by interrelating household incomes and rental outgoings in finegrain, small-scale local areas. This nexus is important to challenge blanket statements about apparent unaffordability which are made by politicians or the commentariat and take in entire cities or provinces. Factually inaccurate assertions are amplified in the media and can become unnecessarily unsettling for numbers of actual or would-be renters. The concept of affordability has otherwise attractedand troubled scholars. To illustrate, Wulff et al. (2009) and Yates et al. (2004) studied temporal change in the private rental market in Australia and highlighted the need for low-rent dwellings. More recently, Wulff et al. (2011) show that the level of access to affordable rental housing for low-income households in Australian cities reduced between 2001 and 2006 due to the absolute shortage of affordable housing, as well as an increase in housing displacement, despite overall growth of the private rental market by 11% during the same period. The concept of displacement is theoretically important and offers a route to progress in studies of broader affordability. It refers to the extent to which higher income households have accessed low-rent housing stock and thereby reduced such stock for access by low-income households (Wulff et al. 2011; HUD 2007). However, apart from general observations on the spatial correlation between housing (and, to a certain extent, private rental housing) and concentration of social disadvantage, there remains insufficient account of the spatial disparity between private rental housing supply and demand at neighbourhood scale, and whether such disparity is related, or has contributed to, social disadvantage and its spatial concentration.

Historically, humanity has congregated in certain places to benefit from a division of labour and scale economies. Yet, in this process, issues inevitably emerge surrounding urban form, understood as the physical configuration of the built environment. As settlements expand and technologies change, so do these inherent problems. Official responses are put in place to address them, thereby creating direct and indirect social costs and distorting pure market forces. Efficacious and transparent governance presumes accountability and some means of appraising these interventions. Thus, systems have been established worldwide to monitor physical changes in urban form against predetermined goals and objectives. Yet, many of these efforts have fallen short in terms of effectiveness, efficiency and equity and, whether acknowledged or not, they continue to do so. The research and policy focus should be upon the fundamentals – the conceptualization stage and design of such systems. In this article, diagnosi...

Sustainable housing is intended to achieve a lower impact on the environment; however, to what extent occupants and their behaviour are a determinant in realising this goal is unclear. In this article occupant attitudes towards the environment are used as an indicator of behaviour while resource usage is used as an indicator for the environment. A study of occupants of sustainable and conventional housing is used to examine this question. The results show that the former use 75% less energy compared with those of conventional houses of the same age, in the same climate zone. More positive attitudes to environmental conservation correlated with lower energy use, but were not found to be a statistically significant predictor of energy use when analysed with other predictor variables. Hence, we argue that sustainable housing characteristics and associated technologies have a much higher weighting relative to occupant attitudinal factors. The data also suggest that the sustainable design of a detached house i...

Though infrastructure planning and provision often unsettle homeowners and communities, facilitating research has been sporadic. Via a qualitative design, this article studies homeowners’ perceptions of high-voltage overhead transmission lines (HVOTLs) with respect of design, cost differentials, health effects, safety issues, visual and noise impacts, environmental damage and interference with property rights. The results support inductive modelling which situates and theorizes the risk associated with power line placement. Apart from informing power and planning agencies, the project acts as a foundation for later quantitative work undertaken to enlarge explanation of residents’ reactions to HVOTL proposals.

Background: The current decline in children's participation in physical activity has attracted the attention of those concerned with children's health and wellbeing. A sustainable approach to ensuring children engage in adequate amounts of physical activity is to support their involvement in incidental activity such as active travel (AT), which includes walking or riding a bicycle to or from local destinations, such as school or a park. Understanding how we can embed physical activity into children's everyday occupational roles is a way in which occupational therapists can contribute to this important health promotion agenda. Aims: To present a simple, coherent and comprehensive framework as a means of examining factors influencing children's AT. Methods: Based on current literature, this conceptual framework incorporates the observable environment, parents' perceptions and decisions regarding their children's AT, as well as children's own perceptions and decisions regarding AT within their family contexts across time. Conclusion: The Model of Children's Active Travel (M‐CAT) highlights the complex and dynamic nature of factors impacting the decision‐making process of parents and children in relation to children's AT. The M‐CAT offers a way forward for researchers to examine variables influencing active travel in a systematic manner. Future testing of the M‐CAT will consolidate understanding of the factors underlying the decision‐making process which occurs within families in the context of their communities.

Built capital combines with social, personal and natural capital to contextualize people's quality of life. Although this last concept has strongly tested academic reasoning, it is often presented simply and as a fait accompli in strategic planning documents. This article questions these pragmatic ‘top-down’ scripts by engaging the self-determination theory of motivation. It argues the transience of hedonic or material reward and posits a much higher plane of eudemonic fulfilment. The key to self-determination and, thus, an agreeable quality of life lies in an individual's acquisition of competence, autonomy and relatedness. From this bridgehead and via a macro-level analysis, the article identifies contemporary economic, environmental and social challenges to the achievement of quality of life, ones that are likely to need individual resourcefulness and resilience to overcome. The account concludes that, instead of proffering cookie-cutter or one-size-fits-all formulae, authorities may consider ways of h...

Higher education institutions are introducing standardised electronic course profiles (ECPs) to advance quality outcomes. Involving both ‘message’ and ‘medium’, they alter traditional practice and interpretations. Critical examination is required of the values, presuppositions and operation of the nascent system. Lacking much theory, analysis relies on emerging empirical evidence. Having considered the ECP's context and composition, its message is then scrutinised, attention focussing on the intent of the document and complicated elements it contains. Next, the medium is examined, with concern expressed over technical aspects, and equity effects implicit in this new form of delivery. From these investigations, a logical exegesis details how an ECP can maximise pedagogic dividend. Conclusions suggest developmental avenues for the best practice ECP and support its eventual inclusion in competitive e-learning suites.

Australian policy is again co-opting an Indigenous client population into obligation which requires adoption of government values and objectives. While previous criticism has focused on the ethical and moral failings of such an approach, this study reflects on its logical and economic elements. Presentation of the ideological background leads into study of Indigenous social housing clients and their historical resistance to imposed objectives. The account next considers Indigenous settlement and occupational options and indicates the importance of economic priorities in any debate about policy objectives. Further commentary raises the shortcomings of current trends by defining minimum requirements for social policy and then comparing them with the government's claims about meeting the needs of its Indigenous clients. The conclusion questions certain of the policy directions and provides some alternative pathways to need satisfaction.

The Shadows of Consumption: Consequences for the Global Environment, by Peter Dauvergne, Cambridge, MA, The MIT Press, http://mitpress.mit.edu, 2008, xvi + 315 pp., $AUD25.95, incl. abbreviations, ...

Children's participation in physical activity is declining, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the incidental activity of walking to school. The aim of this pilot study was to examine the extent to which Australian children walked to and from primary school, and to survey parents to identify factors influencing this behaviour. Parents of 164 students in Grades 1 7 (mean age 9.1 +/- 2.02 years) from a primary school comprising 360 students responded to a questionnaire regarding psychosocial and environmental factors thought to influence the means by which their children went to and from school. Results indicated that parent perception of the importance of physical activity, parents' individual history of transport to school as well as distance from school were the most statistically significant factors determining children's involvement in walking to and from school. The results of this study highlight the attitudes and experiences of parents in determining the extent to which children are involved in non-motorized access to school. Also implicated are organizational policies about geographical school regions. While this study is limited to one school community, further study is recommended with others to better confirm findings by examining socioeconomic, geographic and policy variables. Occupational therapists are challenged to examine ways in which incidental physical activity can be increased in the lives of young children. KW: SR2S Language: en

(2004). The process and progress of urban consolidation. Australian Planner: Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 56-65.

The impact of power transmission lines on property values remains insufficiently explored and inconclusively theorised. This paper provides a platform for examining what appears to be a general phenomenon of price depreciation of land abutting power lines. A large scale international literature review is organised in terms of a thematic model as a prelude to a précis of key papers discussing the power line/property value nexus. Broadening the account, attention turns to the issue of stigma which has different manifestations from its normal context involving contaminated lands. In order to advance theoretical understanding, a speculative model is provided of the stigma apparently attaching to power lines and attendant installations.

This paper presents a brief review of the relative merits of norm-referenced and criterion-referenced assessment of undergraduate students' written work. Acknowledging that there are both positive and negative aspects of criterion referencing, a generic framework for such assessment of undergraduate essays is presented. It comprises criteria and standards (organised by 'dimensions of achievement', i.e. content, process, affect and skills), proficiency standards for English language and communication competence, and cartographic and graphic skills. Problems of implementation include the size and complexity of the framework and the need to interpret and clarify the criteria and standards for students.

Australia-Academics-Managerialism-Collegiality-Geography? Is this the stuff of a debate? Well ... let us just say that Joe Powell is the only one recently to have spent his time and money sending letters to try to find out what people think,. These issues have escaped recent conferences of heads of departments, and the Institute of Australian Geographers. Other Australian geography professors and ex-geographer vice-chancellors are not scurrying into print. As Powell (1993: 6) remarks, "most academics remain outside the discourse or shuffle around its periphery". All quiet on the Antipodean front.

Reef, range and red dust are the 'three Rs' which sum up the geography of Queensland. The recently-completed state atlas, a joint venture of the Premier's and Lands Departments, was charged with capturing the physical and human aspects of this vast area. This paper recounts the background decisions, controversies and some technicalities inherent in its production. No human hands, save those of graphic artists, touched the paper of the atlas: it was completely computer drawn and com­posed. Over 80 external authors were involved. The project took four and a half years and follows a series of other Australian state atlases. In a departure from their tradition, it adopts a 'popular' format using techniques more commonly associated with business magazines.

Based in educational theory and with an interdisciplinary backdrop, this paper applies to economic geography thoughts and contributions pioneered in agricultural science by Professor Richard Bawden. Commonly held educational objectives are interpreted alongside three major teaching traditions. From this analysis, the potential relevance of experiential learning is examined in the light of paradigmatic shifts in economic geography and practical developments in tertiary milieu. The conclusion is that praxis‐based teaching deserves more attention than it has previously received.

The current decline in children's participation in physical activity has attracted the attention of those concerned with children's health and wellbeing. A sustainable approach to ensuring children engage in adequate amounts of physical activity is to support their involvement in incidental activity such as active travel (AT), which includes walking or riding a bicycle to or from local destinations, such as school or a park. Understanding how we can embed physical activity into children's everyday occupational roles is a way in which occupational therapists can contribute to this important health promotion agenda.To present a simple, coherent and comprehensive framework as a means of examining factors influencing children's AT.Based on current literature, this conceptual framework incorporates the observable environment, parents' perceptions and decisions regarding their children's AT, as well as children's own perceptions and decisions regarding AT within their family contexts across time.The Model of Children's Active Travel (M-CAT) highlights the complex and dynamic nature of factors impacting the decision-making process of parents and children in relation to children's AT. The M-CAT offers a way forward for researchers to examine variables influencing active travel in a systematic manner. Future testing of the M-CAT will consolidate understanding of the factors underlying the decision-making process which occurs within families in the context of their communities.

Background and aims: Concerns about physical inactivity in children and growing levels of obesity are expressed by politicians, health economists and those involved with the health and well-being of children. As this has the potential to be a major health issue, the aim of this investigation was to explore any contributing socioenvironmental considerations. Methods and results: Census-matched survey data were analysed from 318 parents of 6- to 7-year-old children, revealing that family socioeconomic status (SES) influenced the places where children engaged in physical activity. Children from low SES backgrounds spent significantly more time playing close to their homes, and their families were less able to afford access to commercial physical-activity facilities, than those from middle and high SES families. Although neighbourhood-based activities are generally associated with more spontaneous free play, such activities may not provide the same opportunities for supervision and physical skill building available through commercial-based activities. Conclusions: Given that access to 'enriching' physical-activity spaces may be limited by the capacity to pay, these findings have implications for professionals such as occupational therapists who can take on a role in advocating for equity in access and promotion of a more engaging urban design. Dialogue with urban planners is central to this process.

Eddo Coiacetto is a senior lecturer in planning at the Nathan (Brisbane) campus of Griffith University and atop of his web page we find the following testimonial. ‘My research and teaching are moti...

This paper examines the measurement of shopping centre floorspace in the belief that many current definitions are unclear. They distort town planning debates in which floorspacebearsuponthegrantingofdevelopmentapproval. More broadly, they have implications for statistical and commercial purposes. Means are suggested through which the difficulties of floorspace measurement can be validly and reliably overcome.

This systematic review investigated the environmental (physical, economic, socio-cultural and political) correlates of active transportation (AT) among young people aged 5-18 years to better inform the promotion of active living. Greater distance, increasing household income and increasing car ownership are consistently associated with lower rates of AT among children. Having a non-white ethnic background has a convincing positive association with AT. Having recreation facilities and walk or bike paths present are possibly associated with higher rates of AT. Further research requires longitudinal and intervention studies, utilizing multi-level design methodologies and objective measures of environmental attributes.

Generally, Australians consider that small towns are declining and there is not much that can be done about it. This paper argues that only certain sorts of towns (largely inland) are declining and that a lot can be done about it, provided there is the will. A small town in South-Western Queensland is used as a case study over a five year period and key issues are identified which can assist small towns to help themselves revitalise.

Dynamic sustainabilities: technology, environment, social justice, Melissa Leach, Ian Scoones and Andy Stirling, London, UK, Earthscan, 2010, xiv+212 pp., £75.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-1-84971-092-3;...

Background and Aims: Children's declining physical activity has attracted attention from those concerned with the health and well-being of the young. The present study aims to determine if the extent of walking to and from a school with an active participation program differed from that in another school without a program. METHOD and Results: Data from 21 parents of Grade 7 children from School A, sourced from a previous study, were compared with data from parents of Grade 7 children in School B, collected using the same questionnaire. No significant difference in the mean number of days walked to (t= 0.098, P= 0.92) or from school (t= 0.251, P= 0.80) was identified. CONCLUSIONS: This small-scale project suggests that a melange of variables has the potential to influence children's incidental activity levels. KW: SR2S Language: en

Queenslanders consume relatively less but pay more for electricity than most Australians, a penalty surprising in a State with the nation's largest sources of energy. An explanation lies in the industry's relative youth and dynamic performance, strong post-war capitalisation, inherent monopoly organisation and the issue of product differentiation expressed in peak/off-peak pricing. Such matters pose particular problems in the Queensland market which is numerically small and areally dispersed. Examination of production and distribution economics reveals that Queensland fuel is presently not cheap and that some of the penalty derives from the strong capitalisation which the system is undergoing. Further pressures lie in the lack of scale economies and in financial policies of supply authorities such as spatial price equalisation. Many factors bear on future prices and predictions are difficult. Nevertheless Queensland's energy advantages should ensure that unless major change transforms the economic environment the price of electricity relative to that in other States falls during the next two decades.

Argues that the present structuring of postgraduate degrees in Australian geography is a recent phenomenon and could be altered. A case is made for more coursework and alternative forms of submissions of research findings. The current dissemination of thesis information is criticised and a call made for better management to benefit readers and geography as a whole. The possibility is canvassed of a wider role for postgraduates in advancing human geography. -Author

Industrial parks have aroused high expectations among academics and practitioners. Using the product cycle concept, it is argued that the emphasis should now move from development to ongoing management to maintain park performance. This is illustrated by reference to a mature and successful Australian park: detailed evaluation of location, access, amenity, and zoning suggests changes to physical planning and management potentially beneficial to occupants. Given the downturn in Western manufacturing and the concentration of industrial activity in parks, park performance is now significant. Improvements at the micro‐level might assist industrial restructuring and recovery. Les lotissements industriels ont provoquk de grands espoirs parmi thkoreticiens et gens de mktier. En utilisant le concept du cycle des produits, cet article affirme que, apr le dkveloppement mike, c'est la continuit6 de la gestion qui doit maintenant susciter les efforts si on veut maintenir les rksultats obtenus dans ces surfaces. L'exemple d'un lotissement industriel australien bien etabli et prospkre vaservir A illustrer cette affirmation: l'evaluation detaillke du site, des points d'accks, de l'agrkment, de la repartition en zones suggkre des changements dans la planification physique et la gestion qui peuvent offrir des ameliorations aux occupants. Etant donne le declin de l'industrie occidentale et la concentration de I'activite industrielle dans des lotissements Specialises, I'efficacitt de ces surfaces est importante. Des ameliorations de detail pourraient contribuer A la restructuration et A la relkve industrielles. Copyright

Restructuring is examined at the level of the firm, selected industries and the economy as a whole. Particular attention is paid to growing disparities in regional development and industrial roles between northern and southern states and the current situation of foreign workers. Concludes that continuing education and worker training will be central to the flexibility required in the German economy and proposes a research agenda within which manufacturing development may be studied.