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ANU I2S is a co-founding member of Superdiversity Research Australia (SRA), established in May 2024. SRA brings together distinct and complementary efforts that study and visualise superdiversity. This ANU I2S. This Briefing outlines three initiatives that can help community engagement and infrastructure sector professionals innovate and elevate their work, today:

• Urban Superdiversity Maps
• Superdiversity Stability
• Climate Vulnerability Maps.

I2S is excited to introduce Superdiversity Research Australia, a new national initiative to deliver evidence and insights to support contemporary Australian communities’ development, liveability and prosperity.

Superdiversity “describes places characterised by communities that are diverse in multiple ways, including religious, cultural, economic, age or gender diversity, among others”.* And it’s the new normal in Australia.

Celebrating those committed to community engagement and participation

On Global Community Engagement Day, the ANU Institute for Infrastructure in Society says thank you to the community members, industry professionals, civil society advocates and government representatives who believe in the power of participation, the importance of local knowledge and the centrality of communities.

We are taking a moment to reflect on some of the major issues facing today’s community engagement professionals by sharing our findings on trust and social risk management. Feel free to download our infographics and social media tiles from the folder below and share (scroll down to access).

Social risk and Australia’s infrastructure sector: InfographicSocial risk and Australia’s infrastructure sector: Social media tile 1Social risk and Australia’s infrastructure sector: Social media …Read More

Delivering Australia’s $600 billion infrastructure need? Communities must be front-and-centre.
Infrastructure Australia’s recently released 2019 Infrastructure Audit calls for a massive increase in infrastructure spending to an estimated total of $600 billion over the next 15 years.

But given that more than $20B in Australian infrastructure projects have already been delayed, cancelled or mothballed over the past decade due partly to community opposition – will a bigger spend be acceptable to communities? Does an infrastructure cash splash have a social licence to operate?

Stakeholder and community pressures influence delays and increase costs
Research from the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University (ANU) shows that, for any increased infrastructure spend to be successful, communities must be front-and-centre of planning and delivery.

The …Read More

This week the Victorian Government joins an alliance of infrastructure leaders working to better understand the relationship between community engagement and major project delivery through the Australian National University’s ground-breaking Next Generation Engagement Program.

The research program, believed to be the largest of its kind in the world, seeks to understand the relationship between communities and infrastructure projects, to identify and promote best practice and to improve community outcomes from major infrastructure delivery.  It is based at the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy.

Research Director, Associate Professor Sara Bice, said:

“The Victorian Government, through its Major Transport Infrastructure Authority, is delivering one of the largest and most ambitious infrastructure programs in the Southern Hemisphere.

We’re delighted to be able to work with their leading …Read More

Australia’s infrastructure sector recently identified community and stakeholder pressure as the number one issue influencing project delays and cancellations. The Australian National University’s Next Generation Engagement program is now going to industry to ask sector professionals to share their experiences to inform improved outcomes for projects and communities.

The 2nd annual State of Infrastructure and Community Engagement Survey, launched this week, aims help identify and address the knowledge gaps in engagement, social risk management and social licence as identified by industry during the Program’s award-winning 2017 pilot.

‘In 2017-18, participants from across the infrastructure sector told us that although many projects are completed on time, when delays do occur, community and stakeholder pressure is the single most influential factor,’ Research Director, Associate …Read More

To professionalise or not to professionalise? That is our question!

With more than $100B in infrastructure projects in delivery in Australia right now, the professionalisation of the engagement sector has become a hotly debated topic.
We asked three global engagement and impact assessment leaders to delve into this debate at the recent IAP2 Australasia conference. But there’s a twist…
Our debaters – Aurecon’s Kylie Cochrane, RPS Australia Asia Pacific’s Rachel Fox and NextGen’s Research Leader,  Associate Professor Sara Bice – had to make their very strongest arguments both for and against the professionalisation of community engagement. The results were compelling, challenging and sometimes surprising.
On the one hand, we see increasing evidence of the bottom line impacts that engagement can have. Leaders in the field are constantly …Read More

How do you build and keep a social license? What are the levers to be pulled in policy, regulation and procurement and what do you do when it all goes pear-shaped?
These questions and more were on the lips of a packed room of infrastructure professionals at this week’s IAQ event – $20B Reasons to Care About Social License.
Event moderator, Kirsty O’Connell, Industry Director for the Next Generation Engagement Program said:
‘This is such a timely discussion to be having as we near the mid-point of Australia’s unprecedented $100B infrastructure program.’
‘This is the time when we start to see some real challenges from impacted communities who are experiencing the effects of construction and it’s a time when social license is particularly easy …Read More