Committing to Place

The Committing to Place research project was an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant project based at the Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research (TIAR), University of Tasmania, and conducted in partnership with the Murray-Darling Basin Commission (MDBC) and the National Museum of Australia (NMA). It ran from 2002 to 2007 or so. The overarching aim of the research was to investigate means of activating and maintaining community participation in natural and cultural resource initiatives in the Murray-Darling Basin. The project was led by Prof Frank Vanclay (UTAS) and involved Dr Ruth Lane (RMIT), Dr Damian Lucas, Jo Wills, Sophie Henry, and Dr Ian Coates (NMA).

The main research activity of the Committing to Place project was to evaluate and reflect on a series of MDBC and NMA outreach and education projects:
Basin Bytes; Many Rhymes, One Rhythm; Pass the Salt; Riverhealth; and Talkback Classroom. The individual project reports are available on request to people with a worthwhile reason. Please contact Prof Frank Vanclay.

The final report of the project, Building capacity for community engagement in museums and NRM agencies, is available for downloading.

• Executive Summary and Recommendations  PDF 14 pages (WARNING 1.1 MB)
• Full Report  PDF 86 pages  (WARNING 3.1 MB)

Also available are various publications about the project.

• Vanclay et al. 2004 ‘Committing to Place’ and evaluating the higher purpose: Increasing engagement in natural resource management through communication technologies in museum settings, Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management 6(4): 539-564. 
• Lane et al. (2005) ‘Committing to Place’ at the local scale: The potential of youth education programs for promoting community participation in regional natural resource management, Australian Geographer 36(3): 351-367.
  
• Lane et al. 2007 “Museum outreach programs to promote community engagement in local environmental issues”, The Australian Journal of Public Administration 66(2): 159-174.
  
• Lane et al. 2008 “Vernacular heritage and evolving environmental policy in Australia: Lessons from the Murray-Darling Outreach Project”, Geoforum 39(3): 1305-1317.
• Vanclay et al. 2008 “Museum outreach programs creating sense of place”, in Vanclay, F., Higgins, M. & Blackshaw, A. (eds) Making Sense of Place, Canberra: National Museum of Australia Press, 278-287.