Challenging complacency in construction management research: the case of PPPs

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are joint ventures in which the private sector works in partnership with government bodies to deliver public sector projects with the intention to deliver them more quickly, efficiently and with better value for money. They are also one of the most contentious project delivery mechanisms to have been mobilised in recent decades. Research has demonstrated the lack of realised value within many such projects, yet construction management academics continue to examine ways of increasing, implementing and optimising this approach in practice, even encouraging its adoption worldwide despite growing social and political dissatisfaction. Here, we go beyond what we see as myopic construction management perspectives, placing our body of work firmly within wider economic, political and social contexts. We challenge uncritical academic compliance with a process that demonstrably contributes to economic inequalities, opportunism and exploitation. We confront the lack of criticality in construction management research of PPPs, and call for construction management academics to broaden their research focus and engage in more robust critique and analysis of construction systems, as they are realised in practice

The shifting ground of Australian higher education through the lens of reflexive modernisation: compromising the quality of planning education?

The aim of this paper is to explore the changes taking place in the Australian higher education sector and to discuss the implications of these changes in planning education. In addressing this aim, this paper draws from theories of reflexive modernisation to discuss how processes of individualisation, risk and reflexivity are shaping the behaviours and decisions of university managers, students and academics. These shifts and challenges are important for employers, just as they are for academics, to understand. The paper calls for more strategic and informed engagement in higher education policy and with the student communities to complement the growing dialogue between academics, the planning profession and employers

Crisis Communication Post Katrina: What are we Learning?

Centralization, Crisis communication, Disaster capitalism, ICT, Media behaviour, Neo-liberalism, Policy invisibility, Public-private partnerships, Hurricane Katrina, Technology and crisis, Emergency management,