Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemSimple rules for place-based approaches addressing disadvantage( 2019)The nature of many social, economic and environmental problems facing Australia and the world are increasingly described as ‘wicked’ or complex in that they are difficult to grasp, unclear how to tackle and often seem insurmountable. Disadvantage is one such problem; there is disagreement about how to define it, it has innumerable and tangled causes, and it refuses to go away. Despite many and varied efforts to address disadvantage in Australia’s most vulnerable communities, the size and significance of the issue has barely shifted during the past 15 years or so (Vinson & Rawsthorne, 2015). Disadvantage can profoundly affect individuals, families, communities and society, and is unacceptable in a country with such sustained economic prosperity as Australia. There is a need to find more effective ways to overcome disadvantage and address this injustice. Place-based approaches are broadly understood to be collaborative, flexible and multi-faceted responses employed within a particular ‘place’ or geographic location to tackle wide-ranging complex issues. They exist in many different forms and show promise as a response to disadvantage and other complex problems. However, the abundance of place-based frameworks, theories and terminology has created a lack of clarity about the core pieces of evidence and central characteristics of place-based approaches for practice, policy and research. This thesis sought to leverage from the diversity of place-based approaches and explore evidence associated with the different forms. The study aimed to distil the key characteristics of promising place-based approaches and generate actionable and evidence-informed guidelines or ‘simple rules’ that can guide the design, development and evaluation of place- based approaches addressing disadvantage in Australia. The study’s literature review found wide-ranging definitions, conceptual frameworks and terminology associated with place-based approaches. The study also identified several points of convergence, including characteristics commonly associated with promising place-based approaches. The results indicate four central and interconnected practices underpin a promising place-based design: collaboration—relate, connect and collaborate across sectors; community engagement—engage and empower community; holistic thinking—think and act holistically; and adaptation—take an adaptive and responsive approach. The study generated a set of evidence-informed simple rules to support the implementation of each of these practices. While the study’s results should be interpreted with caution, this research reiterates the overwhelming need for a consensus framework for place-based approaches that helps to accelerate and advance actionable knowledge.