Richardson
awarded fellowship at Curtin University in Australia
By Carolyn
Gonzales
Ric
Richardson, associate professor in the UNM School of Architecture
and Planning, has been awarded a visiting fellowship at Curtin
University of Technology in Perth, Australia.
Richardson
says that the opportunity arose when David Wood, a professor
from Curtain, came to the School of Architecture and Planning
and learned how professors in planning were teaching negotiation
and using environmental dispute resolution, mostly when building
consensus around community development, water planning and land
use issues.
Wood lectured
in Richardsons land use planning classes and researched
how federal and state agencies in New Mexico were managing public
lands and working with traditional communities.
We
talked a lot about consensus building. Many of the issues that
we face in New Mexico are similar to those in Perth, Australia,
Richardson says. Both regions have diverse cultures, traditional
settlements and indigenous populations with complex land tenure
systems. Both are looking for new ways to build community and
stimulate economic development. Australia instituted a major
reform law and many native groups are interested in managing
public lands and building eco-tourism.
He says
that solving problems within a mixture of cultures and land
ownership patterns, innovative ways to plan for and use of federal
and state lands must be approached by building consensus through
face-to-face negotiations.
Working
with native people, the Australians have had to look at new
land uses, access to public lands and projects that engender
environmental sustainability, Richardson says.
While in
Perth, he will also work with the City and Regional Planning
Department at Curtin University to build capacity in negotiation,
facilitation and mediating land use disputes. He will look at
the parallels between Perth and Albuquerques neighborhood
redevelopment and citizen involvement. Richardson will research
Perths experience with community-based planning and inner-city
revitalization.
In
Community and Regional Planning in the School of Architecture
and Planning, our orientation is toward participatory involvement.
We train planners to listen to and work with local constituencies.
As a result, we are recognized nationally for our diversity
and progressive approach to community and regional planning,
Richardson says.
The fellowship
he has been awarded is given annually to an international visitor
to work with Curtin Universitys Department of City and
Regional Planning.