NZGS-IAG2018

NZGS/IAG Conference 2018

‘Creative Conversations, constructive connections’

July 11-14, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Call for Abstracts

Session title: (Re)turn of the Regions? Deciding Antipodean regional development

After long neglect Antipodean politicians, the public and academics have rediscovered regions as geospatial entities that matter. Earlier work had shown their importance within national economies (OECD: Regions Matter, 2009). Recently, high city accommodation costs have raised public awareness about out-migration to the regions, while academics have raised the spectre of aging and shrinking ‘Zombie’ regions (S. Eaqub: Growing Apart: regional prosperity in New Zealand, 2014; P. Spoonley (ed): Rebooting the Regions, 2016). In response, New Zealand’s new government proposes a NZ$1 billion/year ‘Regional Development (Provincial Growth) Fund’. Similarly, Australia has embarked on its Regions 2030 – Unlocking Opportunity initiative.

Neglected are the challenges of who decides where such support should be directed and whose actions are to be aligned and coordinated to achieve regional growth or managed decline. Past reforms focused on functional theory to determine geophysical decision-boundaries, but increasingly the regional governance literature is exploring the postfunctionalist drivers – community and identity (e.g. Hooghe and Marks: Community, Scale, and Regional Governance).

The session sponsored by the IGU Commission on Geography of Governance aims to discuss recent empirical evidence and innovative perspectives on subnational regional governance. We welcome papers on any aspect of the broad area of local and regional governance, country or region reports, as well as comparative approaches, examining theoretical, methodological, and/or empirical issues. We would particularly encourage papers focused on, but not limited to, Australia and New Zealand.

Key-words: Region; governance; economic-development; local government

Session convenor: Jeff McNeill, School of People, Environment and Planning, Massey University, New Zealand

Session sponsored by: IGU Commission Geography of Governance

For additional information, contact:

Jeff McNeill

School of People, Environment and Planning, Massey University, New Zealand

E-mail: J.K.McNeill@massey.ac.nz

Please send an abstract (150-200 words) with the title, author name, institutional affiliation, and contact information to the session convenor until 26 March.

Download Call for Abstracts (pdf) ->

NEW ZEALAND GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY - http://www.nzgs.co.nz/nzgs-conferences/annual-general-meeting

INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHERS - https://www.iag.org.au/nzgs-iag-conference-july-11-14-2018