Urban Research Unit, Research School of Social Sciences

Identity area

Type of entity

University unit

Authorized form of name

Urban Research Unit, Research School of Social Sciences

Parallel form(s) of name

    Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules

      Other form(s) of name

      • Urban Research Program
      • Urban and Environmental Program

      Identifiers for corporate bodies

      Description area

      Dates of existence

      1965 - 1999

      History

      The Urban Research Unit was originally conceived as a collaborative project between RSSS’s Departments of Economic History and Economics, with URU staff being formally appointed to one of the two departments. Initially, the URU’s research agenda was determined by a Research Advisory Committee made up of members of the Economic History, Economics, Political Science, Law and Demography Departments. In 1967–1968 the URU became a separate entity within RSSS.

      The URU was intended as an inter-disciplinary research unit, which would source potential staff from a variety of disciplines and from both the public and private sectors. The primary focus of research was to be processes of urbanisation in Australia with a greater emphasis on practical rather than theoretical methodology. One of the URU’s first major research projects was a study of urbanisation processes in Sydney, soon expanded to include Melbourne. During its first decade the Unit’s other major concerns were housing, the environmental quality of urban areas, social indicators, land policy, transport, infrastructure investment and planning, and employment.

      The URU was particularly involved in researching urban planning issues for the Whitlam Government (1972–1975), mainly through Tom Uren, the Minister for Urban and Regional Development. Patrick Troy, a founding member of the URU, was Deputy Secretary of the Department of Urban and Regional Development during this time, after which he returned to the URU.

      The URU ran several important series of seminars. They took over responsibility for the Joint Urbanisation Seminar in 1966, and also ran an extensive series of their own Work-in-Progress seminars.

      Places

      Legal status

      Functions, occupations and activities

      Research

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      Internal structures/genealogy

      General context

      Relationships area

      Related entity

      Troy, Patrick (Pat) Nicol (1936 - 2018)

      Identifier of related entity

      Category of relationship

      associative

      Dates of relationship

      1984 - 1991

      Description of relationship

      Professor and Head of the Urban Research Unit.

      Access points area

      Subject access points

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      Authority record identifier

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      Dates of creation, revision and deletion

      Prepared by Maggie Shapley on 14 November 2007 based on finding aid by Louise Palmer

      Language(s)

        Script(s)

          Sources

          Patrick Troy, The Urban Research Program 1966–1996, annual reports 1966–1968, Urban Research Program newsletters 1998–1999

          Maintenance notes