Place, Attachment and Urban Change
Place, Attachment and Urban Change
Image: Pakington Street, Geelong. Courtesy of City of Greater Geelong.
“Community responses to planning change are often driven by care for place and social connections. Understanding these motivations is essential for designing more constructive and democratic planning processes.”
— Dr Suzanne Barker, Monash University
Investigator
- Suzanne Barker Monash Art, Design and Architecture
Supervisors
- Professor Carl Grodach Supervisor
- Associate Professor Liton Kamruzzaman Co-supervisor
Partner organisations
- City of Greater Geelong
This research examines how residents understand, respond to, and engage with urban change, particularly in the context of urban densification and planning reform. It focuses on the social, emotional and cognitive dimensions of community responses that are often overlooked in policy and planning debates.
Drawing on case studies in the Australian city of Geelong, the research explores how place attachment, social connections, lived experience and perceptions of fairness shape resident attitudes to planning proposals. It challenges simplified narratives that frame community opposition as NIMBYism and self-interested or resistant to change, instead showing how contestation is often rooted in care for neighbourhood character, local identity and community continuity.
The research also examines how planning and consultation processes interact with these dynamics, including how information, trust and cognitive bias influence engagement. By integrating insights from urban planning and behavioural science, the project aims to inform more effective, inclusive and context-sensitive approaches to planning practice and policy.
Outputs from this research are being published across a series of peer-reviewed journal articles and public-facing commentary, with a focus on housing policy, participation, and democratic planning.