Content: 5 x maps plus 1000 words (+/- 10%, excluding references) Submit: via

Canvas

Welcome to GIS
Geographic location is fundamental in our lives. From problems so routine in our day
that they may not register in our consciousness (such as using your smart phone to
find the nearest bus stop) to those that have major societal or environmental
consequences (such as predicting the spatial spread of infectious disease), space and
location really matter.

Problems that involve location, either in the information used to address them or in
their end solutions, are termed geographic problems. The ubiquitous nature of
geographic information and the relevance of place to human behaviour, human-
environment interactions and biophysical processes that operate on the Earth's surface
highlight the importance of methods for geographical analysis and reasoning.

Geographic information is multidimensional in that at least two coordinates are

required to define location (x and y or latitude and longitude) but may also involve a
height (z) or time (t) dimension. The diffusion of mobile devices for deriving geo-
referenced information and increased accessibility of high-resolution satellite imagery
has resulted in the proliferation of geographic information and 'big data' that can be
used in novel ways to explore and predict trends. However, working with geographic
information and the representation of spatial features and phenomena is often
complex and requires an understanding of the methods that underpin GIS.

Understanding disadvantage,
employment and transport
Understanding spatial patterns of advantage and disadvantage in urban areas requires
an analysis of historical economic changes, specifically shifts in labour and industry,
particularly manufacturing, as well as the housing market (Pawson et al., 2005). Prior
to the 1980s, disadvantage in Sydney existed largely in the inner city, with the
working class living in slums near factories, warehouses, wharves, shipyards and rail
yards. The post-World War 2 period saw a decline in certain industries and the
relocation of others to (what was at the time) outer Sydney. At the same time an
increase in the inner Sydney housing market coupled with increased provision of
public housing in outer Sydney, ultimately resulted in the “suburbanisation of
poverty” (Randolph & Tice, 2017). Randolph (2004) and Baum et al. (2005) both
point to the emergence of a distinct band of social disadvantage in Sydney’s ‘middle
suburbia’. This has led to spatial income inequality and increasing polarisation
between Sydney’s most advantaged and disadvantaged.

Some factors that are commonly associated with disadvantage include employment
and transport. Disadvantaged suburbs are characterised by low income, temporary and
precarious employment, as well as high rates of unemployment (Burke & Hulse,
2015). Furthermore, the concentration of employment, services and recreational
opportunities closer to the inner city limits the ability of people to participate in these
opportunities and…

“…forces these populations to travel long distances, and the lack of public transport
options ensures that covering these distances is both difficult and expensive…
Furthermore, distance, and a paucity of infrastructural provision, limits walking and
cycling for transport, as well as other alternatives to private car ownership such as
car sharing” (Ma et al., 2018: 32).

Being ‘forced’ into car ownership in order to generate income can induce transport
disadvantage via the high costs of owning and running a car and the consequential
financial stress (Currie & Delbosc, 2011). Ma et al. (2018) and Burke et al. (2014)
both argue that transport disadvantage contributes to social exclusion by preventing
people “from participating in the economic, social and political life of the community
because of reduced accessibility to opportunities, services and social networks, due in
whole or part to insufficient mobility in a society built around the assumption of high
mobility (Kenyon et al. 2003: 318 in Ma et al., 2018)”. In summary, there are clear
links between disadvantage, unemployment, car ownership and car dependency in
Sydney.

Baum, S., O’Connor, K., and Stimson, R., 2005. Fault lines exposed: advantage and
disadvantage across

Australia’s settlement system. Melbourne: Monash University Press

Burke, T. and Hulse, K., 2015. Spatial disadvantage: why is Australia different?
Melbourne: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, AHURI Final Report

Burke, T. and Stone, J. and Glackin, S. and Scheurer, J. 2014. Transport disadvantage
and low-income rental housing. AHURI Positioning paper. 157: pp. 1-62

Currie, G. and Delbosc, A. 2011. Transport Disadvantage: A Review, Currie, G.

(Ed.) New Perspectives and Methods in Transport and Social Exclusion Research,
Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp. 15-25
Kenyon, S., Rafferty, J. and Lyons, G., 2003. Social exclusion and transport in the
UK: a role for virtual accessibility in the alleviation of mobility-related social
exclusion? Journal of Social Policy, 32(3)

Ma, L., Kent, J.L. and Mulley, C., 2018. Transport disadvantage, social exclusion, and
subjective well- being. Journal of transport and land use, 11(1), pp.31-47

Pawson, H., Hulse, K., and Cheshire, L., 2015. Addressing concentrations of
disadvantage in urban Australia. Melbourne: Australian Housing and Urban Research
Institute, AHURI Final Report No. 247

Randolph, B., 2004. The changing Australian city: new patterns, new policies and
new research needs1. Urban policy and research, 22 (4), 481–493

Randolph, B. and Tice, A., 2017. Relocating disadvantage in five Australian cities:
Socio-spatial polarisation under neo-liberalism. Urban policy and research, 35(2),
pp.103-121

Assessment guidelines
Your submission for this assessment is worth 20% of your final grade. For this
assessment we require you to upload Five maps and a 1000 word interpretation of the
maps and the issues they illustrate with some referencing (using Harvard style
referencing).  We will be using ArcGIS online to create the maps, a web-based
version of ESRI's popular GIS software.  

You may be required to use a Virtual Private Network to access University resources
remotely.