What works for place-based approaches in Victoria. Part 1: A review of the literature

Amanda Alderton; Karen Villanueva; Melanie Davern; Tim Reddel; Lutfun Nahar Lata; Susie Moloney; Haydie Gooder; Thea Hewitt; Ashton DeSilva; Brian Coffey; Ian McShane; Melek Cigdem-Bayram

doi:10.25439/rmit.19304123.v11

In recent years Victorians have endured difficult times with catastrophic summer bushfires (2019- 2020), floods and the COVID-19 pandemic with its associated impacts including local and regional lockdowns, school closures, unemployment, changed migration patterns, financial distress, increased family violence, and impacts on mental health. These disruptions and emerging issues have occurred in the context of a rapidly changing climate with higher temperatures, more frequent and extreme weather events, greater risk of bushfires, floods and sea-level rises, all which will have disproportionate impacts on people living with socio-economic disadvantage. Consequently, to address the interconnections between these socio-economic and environmental issues at a local level, applying a place-based lens is critically important, particularly as policy and planning moves from responding to crises, into recovery, transition, adaptation and preparing for the future. This research has been funded by the Place Based Reform and Delivery branch of the Victorian Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions (DJPR) to consolidate and review evidence on what works for place-based approaches (PBAs) in the Victorian context. The major objective of the project was to increase understanding of the effectiveness of PBAs and make this evidence available to decisionmakers, practitioners and funders of PBAs. The ultimate project objective has been to support PBAs, increase their effectiveness and improve the wellbeing of Victorian communities. The project has been led by Jesuit Social Services’ Centre for Just Places, with RMIT University Centre for Urban Research and the Centre for Community Child Health at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. The research has been delivered and developed in partnership with DJPR and guided by the Department’s project Oversight Committee as well as an independent Advisory Group. The specific aims of the project were to identify elements of PBAs that influence success across the lifetime of initiatives, factors that influence effectiveness, barriers to effectiveness, government influences on effectiveness and successful partnerships, and the use of economic evaluation in PBAs. The project consisted of two major work programs: Part 1, a meta-synthesis of existing literature on PBAs; and Part 2, an examination of selected case studies across Victoria. This report provides results for Part 1 of the project, an extensive meta-synthesis of available evidence in the existing literature. A meta-synthesis describes a ‘review of reviews’ approach and literature included peer-reviewed journal articles, authoritative summaries, reports and other publications identified through database searches, the project team, Advisory Group and Oversight Committee. An historical policy review of PBAs is also included in this report as Appendix 2, and has been prepared by project Advisory Group members from the University of Queensland. The historical review of policy is outside the scope of the original project brief but has been provided for contextual information on changing policy environments related to PBAs over time, and across Australian state and federal jurisdictions. Before presenting key findings derived from the literature, it is useful to provide a definition of PBAs as: A collaborative, long-term approach to build thriving communities delivered in a defined geographic location. This approach is ideally characterised by partnering and shared design, shared stewardship, and shared accountability for outcomes and impacts. (Dart, 2018, p. 7) The Victorian Government’s framework for place-based approaches (State Government of Victoria, 2020) acknowledges the important differences between PBAs and place-focused approaches. Place-focused approaches have limited community involvement in decision-making, concentrate on planning and service delivery, and ultimately government has control over decision-making. In comparison, PBAs are community driven initiatives that have the potential to work towards shared long-term outcomes usually requiring ongoing whole-of-government support and commitment to address complex and systemic issues. While place-based and place-focused represent different approaches, there is capacity for initiatives to move between these approaches, with the role of community in decision-making changing over time. This meta-synthesis of existing literature identified several essential features of successful PBAs, as well as elements and conditions for success, and gaps and limitations in the existing literature.

What works for place-based approaches in Victoria. Part 1: A review of the literature

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