Right from the start, when the organisation was first established as the National Sea Change Taskforce, it recognised the need for credible research into the issues confronting coastal communities.
Over the years it has commissioned a number of research projects through leading universities into the priority issues facing coastal councils and their communities. These issues include:
- The impact and implications of population growth in coastal areas;
- Planning for the potential impact of sea level rise and other climate impacts;
- The legal implications of coastal planning; and
- The extent to which coastal populations are underestimated in Census data.
The research reports commissioned by the organisation have been widely used in the development of planning strategies by coastal councils and have also influenced the development of coastal policy at State and Federal Government level.
The final reports of the major research projects commissioned by the organization are listed below.
From the Executive Summary: Coastal communities around Australia and around the world are struggling to plan for rapid population growth driven by internal migration from metropolitan cities and inland areas. Described as the “sea change” phenomenon by demographers Ian Burnley and Peter Murphy (2004), the implications of this movement are significant for the communities and … Continue reading Meeting the Sea Change Challenge
From the Executive Summary: This is the second report for the National Sea Change Taskforce. The first report by the Planning Research Centre, Meeting the Sea Change Challenge: Sea Change Communities in Coastal Australia (March 2005), identified the key social, economic, and environmental planning issues facing coastal sea change communities in Australia, and reviewed current … Continue reading Meeting the Sea Change Challenge – Second Report
From the Executive Summary: Climate change has particular resonance for coastal communities. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identifies coastal areas of Australia as the most exposed to potential climate change impacts, from sea level rise to increased frequency and velocity of extreme weather events (Christensen et al. 2007). These predictions threaten the natural … Continue reading Planning for Climate Change Report
A report into the legal implications of changes in coastal policies in several States has found that coastal councils are at increased risk of litigation in relation to planning for climate change. The report was prepared for the National Sea Change Taskforce by Beatty Legal, a firm specialising in environment and planning law.
A landmark study into the impact of non-resident populations on coastal communities has now been released. The study found a large number of people were missing from these communities when the 2011 Census data was collected. Professor Graeme Hugo, who presented a report on the research project at the Australian Coastal Councils Conference in Adelaide on … Continue reading Landmark Study on ‘Missing’ Coastal Populations Now Available
Australia needs new planning tools to manage the rapid growth in listings on Airbnb and other online holiday rental platforms, according to a new study by researchers at The University of Sydney. A study into planning responses to the impact of short-term holiday rental platforms was conducted by a University of Sydney research team led … Continue reading Planning controls not keeping pace with online holiday rentals