Public Universities and the City

Public Universities and the City

Date: Thursday, 17th October 2024

Time: 3:00pm—4:00pm

Location: Chau Chak Wing Museum

University campuses occupy prominent space in our cities and regions, and play critical roles in knowledge discovery and innovation and in educating future professionals and leaders. But with a spotlight on the impacts of Australia’s third largest export industry – international education on local housing markets, and ongoing criticisms over the accessibility and relevance of university degrees, is it time to question how Australia’s public universities intersect with their neighbouring communities and wider urban and regional settings?   

Speakers

Dr Dale Leorke, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney

Professor Julia Horne, University Historian at The University of Sydney

Ben Roche, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research & Education Impact), Southern Cross University

Dr Jenna Price, visiting fellow at the Australian National University and a regular columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald

Chaired by

Associate Professor Dallas Rogers, Head of Urban Discipline, University of Sydney

Dr Dale Leorke is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Sydney on the Australian Research Council-funded project 'The University and the City', which examines the relationship between universities and the cities they are embedded in. Dale's previous research has focused on the intersections between digital technologies, public spaces and public libraries, and they have published five books, including most recently The Library as Playground: How Games and Play are Reshaping Public Culture (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022).  

Professor Julia Horne is Professor of History at the University of Sydney. She works and writes on the history and politics of higher education. Her books include Australian Universities—A conversation about public good, (Public and Social Policy Series, Sydney University Press, 2022, co-edited with Matthew A.M. Thomas), Preserving the past: the University of Sydney and the Unified National System of Higher Education 1987–96 (Melbourne University Publishing, 2017, co-authored with Stephen Garton), and Sydney: the making of a public university (Miegunyah Press, 2012, co-authored with Geoffrey Sherington). She is currently working on the post-war Curtin-Chifley higher education reforms which reimagined Australian higher education.  

Ben Roche leads the University’s strategic impact agenda in research and education as Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research & Education Impact), . 

As a human geographer, Ben is passionate about participatory approaches to sustainable development and the role that education and engagement can play in creating resilience, capacity and well-being in communities. He has taught, researched and practised in the areas of community-based learning, participatory planning, sustainable development and community engagement. Ben also provides advice to various organisations and governments on strategic approaches to education, engagement and development. 

Ben's contribution to community engagement in higher education, specifically service learning in built environment disciplines, has been recognised through a national Carrick Citation. For this work, he also received the Edith Cowan Authentic Learning Award from the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia. In 2019, Ben received the Australian Financial Review Higher Education Award for Best Industry Engagement and the Business Higher Education Roundtable Award for Excellence in Community Engagement for the national pilot program, Farming Together. Ben is the Immediate Past President of Engagement Australia. 

Dr Jenna Price is a visiting fellow at the Australian National University and a regular columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald. 

Dallas Rogers is Head of Urbanism in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney. He works on the colonial and contemporary politics of land, housing, property and urban development. His research spans urban and historical geography with a focus on the intersections of race, class, nature, technology and capital. Dallas leads major studies of urbanism funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) and other government and non-government funders. His current ARC studies include: ‘Digital technologies and the private rental sector in Australia’ (LP190100619); ‘Inequality in Australia: housing in the asset society’ (SR200200443); and ‘The University and the City’ (DP220102094). Dallas is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Housing Policy. He has written well over 50 opinion pieces for The Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald and The Conversation. Dallas is a radio-maker and produces radio features for ABC Radio National. He is the founder of City Road Podcast, amongst others radio projects. 

Festival of Public Urbanism 2024

Great cities are defined by the quality of their public realm. From parks to civic architecture, well designed public infrastructure supports and enables the social, cultural, and economic dimensions of urban life. But are these public assets, along with public processes of urban governance and planning, under attack? Over the past fifty years key legacies of the modern urban project – such as publicly funded housing and urban infrastructure; or comprehensive planning for new development – have been eroded by waves of political and economic reform. Faith in market based ‘solutions’ has reduced public planning processes to ‘red tape’ and replaced public investment in rental housing with subsidies for private investors and households. At the same time, digital transformation under ‘platformisation’ has seen private corporations able to evade domestic regulations, disrupting every facet of urban life and governance. 

The Festival of Public Urbanism will debate these topics and more. Join us to engage with academics, activists, politicians, industry leaders through our program of panel discussions, walking tours, and podcasts across Sydney and Australia.