The FACTBase project is a collaborative research project with UWA to benchmark the liveability of Perth and its global connectedness, by examining its economic, social, demographic and political character.
The project is headed by Professor Matthew Tonts and will utilise the skills and expertise of academics recruited from an international field of researchers.
The UWA team will not only condense a plethora of existing information and databases on the subject, but map what’s happening in Perth in pictures as well as words. They will examine how Perth compares with, and connects to, other cities around the world.
Research projects commenced in 2009 include:-
- Reinterpreting the dynamics of Perth’s regional economy
- Economic governance for a globalising Perth
- Exploring ‘urban liveability’ in Perth
- Perth’s venture capital landscape
- Perth’s local government and governance landscape
- Perth’s sporting landscapes
Interim research findings will be released regularly, with the main body of research expected to be completed in 2012, providing an important resource for academics, planners and decision-makers.
FACTBase Bulletin 1 - Westward Bound? Perth's Emerging Corporate Power
FACTBase Bulletin 2 - Economic Stress in Perth
FACTBase Bulletin 3 - Perth's Decade of Prosperity
FACTBase Bulletin 4 - Can a Resource Based Economy be a Knowledge Economy?
FACTBase Bulletin 5 - Is Perth Becoming More Unequal?
FACTBase Bulletin 8 - A Brief Overview of Perth's Retail Trade Landscape
FACTBase Bulletin 9 - Perth's Economic Base: A Comparative Assessment
FACTBase Bulletin 10 - Perth's Most Competitive Sectors: An Exploratory Study
FACTBase Bulletin 12 - Perth's Energy Economy
FACTBase Bulletin 13 - Global Competitiveness - Implications for Perth
FACTBase Bulletin 14 - Australia's Smart Cities - A Preliminary Assessment
FACTBase Bulletin 15 - Perth's Decade of Prosperity - 2010 Update
FACTBase Bulletin 16 - Is Perth Becoming More Unequal? - 2010 Update
FACTBase Bulletin 17 - Exploring Understandings of Liveability for Perth
FACTBase Bulletin 18 - Perceptions of Urban Elites on Four Australian Cities
FACTBase Bulletin 19 - Perth's Geography of Financial Generosity
FACTBase Bulletin 20 - Tourist Persectives of Perth in Social Media
FACTBase Bulletin 21 - Connectivity Infrastruture
FACTBase Bulletin 22 - The Spatial Distribution of Employment in Metropolitan Perth, 1991-2011
FACTBase Bulletin 23- Managing Boomtown Perth: Policy Challenges for Adequate Housing Provision
FactBase Bulletin 24- Perth’s Changing Population: Some Selected Observations
Professor Matthew Tonts
Professor Matthew Tonts has a background in human geography and is presently Director of UWA’s Institute for Regional Development. His research is concerned with the economic and dynamics affecting cities and regions. His research has focused on issues such as enterprise and economic development, labour market change, and public policy.
Dr Steffen Wetzstein
Dr Steffen Wetzstein is an economic geographer recruited from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, where he has been studying the effects of globalisation on economy and governance structures.
Dr Paul Maginn
Dr Paul Maginn is the Coordinator of UWA’s Urban and Regional Planning programs. His research is focused on planning policy, local government and governance, and the social and cultural dynamics of cosmopolitan cities.
Dr Paul Huddleston
Presently an Associate Professor in the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Western Australia, Paul, a Geographer, specialises in rural and regional economic development. His research has focused on community, area and regional development as well as institutional strengthening and the development of enterprise linkages. He has extensive research experience in both developed and developing countries in development planning, monitoring and evaluation.
Dr Veronica Huddleston
Currently Associate Professor at UWA, Veronica is a development economist with extensive international development assistance experience in Asia and Australia. Her research and project interests include rural regional development and planning, social dimensions of development projects, joint venture feasibility studies and project evaluation and monitoring.