SLE741 - Regional Development Economics for Sustainability
| Year: | 2027 unit information |
|---|---|
| Enrolment modes: | Trimester 2: Burwood (Melbourne), Online |
| Credit point(s): | 1 |
| EFTSL value: | 0.125 |
| Prerequisite: | Nil |
| Corequisite: | Nil |
| Incompatible with: | Nil |
| Study commitment: | Students will on average spend 150 hours over the teaching period undertaking the teaching, learning and assessment activities for this unit. |
| Scheduled learning activities - campus: | 2 x 1 hour lectures per week, 1 x 1 hour seminar per week. |
| Scheduled learning activities - online: | Online independent and collaborative learning including 1 x 1 hour scheduled online seminar per week |
Content
This unit examines regional development economics through a range of competing and complementary theoretical traditions, with particular emphasis on alternative economic perspectives and the implications of ecological limits for regional futures. Students engage with theories of trade-led growth, spatial polarisation and endogenous territorial development, but also move beyond conventional growth-centred approaches to examine ecological economics and related frameworks that challenge standard assumptions about efficiency, value, development and progress.
The unit explores how different theories interpret uneven regional development, economic restructuring, resource dependence, environmental degradation and the relationship between economy and place. Particular attention is given to ecological economics in its various forms, including steady-state perspectives, resource and energy constraints, socio-ecological systems thinking, and approaches concerned with sustainability, resilience and long-term regional viability. Students examine how these perspectives reframe familiar policy questions by shifting attention from growth alone to questions of distribution, ecological integrity, adaptive capacity and the conditions for durable prosperity.
Through analysis of real-world regions in both developed and developing contexts, students develop the capacity to diagnose regional conditions, compare the strengths and limitations of different theoretical approaches, and design context-sensitive development strategies that are economically credible, socially grounded and environmentally defensible.
Unit fee information
Fees and charges vary depending on the type of fee place you hold, your course, your commencement year, the units you choose to study and their study discipline, and your study load.
Tuition fees increase at the beginning of each calendar year and all fees quoted are in Australian dollars ($AUD). Tuition fees do not include textbooks, computer equipment or software, other equipment or costs such as mandatory checks, travel and stationery.
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