AHURI Research Centre
What is the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute?
AHURI is a national organisation that conducts and disseminates research on current housing and urban issues. It has research facilities in all States and Territories.
AHURI will spend over $14 million on research and related activities over the four years from January 2000.
To date, over $3 million has been committed to 48 separate research projects on contemporary housing issues.
What is its role?
AHURI is an apolitical broker of ideas and policy relevant research in housing and urban policy.
It exists to meet the information needs of policy makers, practitioners and researchers through the conduct and dissemination of intellectually independent and rigorous research.
Why research housing and urban issues?
Housing is of major importance in economic and social affairs. For most people it is the biggest purchase of their lives. Almost half of Australians’ personal wealth is held in housing. Housing provides shelter, refuge and the central habitat for family life. It is the building stock of communities.
Urban issues encompass small communities to major cities. The dynamics of urban development have major social and economic consequences.
Governments, industry and the community at large face tough choices about how funds should be spent to achieve the best results. AHURI helps by providing important, timely and relevant information.
Who funds AHURI?
AHURI is funded from several sources. The Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments collectively contribute the majority of funds: $2.5 million per annum until the end of 2003. Participating research institutions are also contributing significantly – over $1.6 million per annum. Additional funds come from research consultancies and sponsorships.
How is AHURI organised?
AHURI has a small management office in Melbourne, and includes 18 research institutions which cover each State and Territory (see below).
The research agenda is reviewed annually, through the Research Panel (with government, community, private industry and academic members) and through consultation with governments and other stakeholders to ensure its relevance to government and industry. AHURI invites responses to the research agenda from participating research institutions through a competitive tendering process.
AHURI intends to promote its research findings so that this information is readily available and is accessible in style. Each research project will have a four page summary as well as a detailed research report. Information about AHURI and its research projects is available on the AHURI Website www.ahuri.edu.au.
Who are the researchers?
The research institutions (mostly universities) which provide AHURI’s research capacity are organised into research centres. The research centres and their present directors are:
- University of Sydney
- University of New South Wales / University of Western Sydney
- Australian National University (National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling as affiliate)
- Monash University / Swinburne University of Technology
- RMIT University
- Flinders University / University of Adelaide / University of South Australia / University of Tasmania (University of Northern Territory as affiliate)
- Murdoch University / Curtin University of Technology
- University of Queensland / Queensland University of Technology
What are researchers at Sydney Uni investigating now?
Projects (and Project Leaders) from the Research Agenda 2000 include:
- Housing assistance and regional disadvantage: International best practice and Australian applications (John Lea, Faculty of Architecture)
- Housing and care for older and younger adults with disabilities (Hal Kendig, Faculty of Health Sciences)
- Comparative assessment of housing evaluation methods: evaluating the economic, health and social impacts of housing (Gary Moore, Faculty of Architecture)
- A spatial analysis of trends in housing markets and changing patterns of household structure and income (Judy Yates, Faculty of Economics and Business)