This multi-phased research led by Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow Professor Chris Gibson (2025-2030) is developing a novel place-based approach connecting economic geography with social and cultural insights.
Planning for more inclusive energy transitions, the research team will track where investments in renewables and clean manufacturing hit the ground, and with what effect, while uncovering overlooked regional skills and initiatives, and First Nationsâ perspectives.
Documenting the economic geography of decarbonisation: the âwhereâ and âwhatâ of transitions for Australian regions.
Tracing investments across scales, and supply chains, while capturing global and geopolitical dimensions of wind, solar, âcleanâ manufacturing and critical minerals.
Mapping the structure, geography and financing of firms to the on-the-ground impacts of investment capital in regional communities.
Comparing port and inland regions targeted for decarbonisation projects.
Revealing the complex, multifaceted people and places at the intersection of economic, social, and environmental forces to counter perceptions of regions as passive recipients of change.
Amplifying the unheeded capacities for workers and households to enact change, and to lead and participate in overlooked sustainability initiatives.
Understanding the actual regional experience of decarbonisationâin employment shifts, social division and conflict, housing crises, and skills mismatch.
Generating data on grassroots and bottom-up responses to transition in industrial regions.
Listening to Country and First Nationsâ stakeholders, supported by ADPâs Indigenous Knowledge Place.
Building a team of Indigenous scholars to track self-determination, jobs, and enterprise development in and alongside decarbonisation projects.
Redressing a lack of engagement with First Nationsâ perspectives in literature and practice amid transitions, for meaningful consultation.
Incorporating Indigenous-developed principles of respectful communication, holistic benefit sharing, land stewardship, and reciprocity, for improved outcomes.
Synthesising and spatialising qualitative and quantitative data across the wider project with GIS tools to drive holistic understanding and translate findings for new and diverse audiences.
Visualising alignments and asymmetries between decarbonisation investment flows and extant communities and conditions.
Revealing vernacular community and First Nationsâ capacities, expertise, and outcomes while protecting sovereignty over cultural knowledge.
Developing improved governance frameworks that foster reciprocal relationships between state and community actors and ensure just and place-based transformation approaches.
Reporting and advocating recommendations of how best to catalyse regional transitions.
Collaborating and comparing with global experts to internationalise findings.
Dougall, S., Gibson, C., Larkin, N., and Madden, B., 2026.  Research Communication, 21 September, Regional decarbonisation transitions: an inclusive, place-based approach (FL240100124), ±ŹÁÏÍő.Â
Gibson, C., Madden, B., Dougall, S., Larkin, N., Dufty-Jones, R., Alizadeh, T., and Padman, E., 2026. . Research Communication, 17 September, Regional decarbonisation transitions: an inclusive, place-based approach (FL240100124), ±ŹÁÏÍő.Â
Gibson, C., Larkin, N., Warren, A., Dufty-Jones, R., Madden, B. and Ryan, M.D., 2026. Australian Geographer, 57(1), pp.1-22.Â
Dougall, S.D., Gillespie, J., Sav, A., Ramirez, J.C., Haswell, M.R., Potter, R. and Dollard, M., 2026. Safety Science, 203, p.107334.
Larkin, N., Gibson, C., Carr, C. and Klocker, N., 2026. Energy Research & Social Science, 139, p.104901.
Klocker, N., Carr, C., Fulton, E. and Larkin, N., 2026. Energy Research & Social Science, 134, p.104610.Â
Gibson, C. and Kay, K., 2025. Geography Compass: e70052.  Â
Warren, A. and Gibson, C., 2025, Geography Compass, 19: e70038.Â
West, L. 2026, 'Mapping the stakeholder complexities of a port to understand the collaborative relationships', 4th PIANC AU-NZ Biennial Conference, 25-27 August, Brisbane, PIANC APAC.
Gibson, C., Larkin, N., Madden, B., and Maletti, C., 2026. 'Mapping regional decarbonisation and industrial capacity: a collaborative resource', Economic Geography Study Group (EGSG) Symposium: Economic Geographies of Continuity and Change, 9 December, University of Wollongong, Institute of Australian Geographers.
West, L. 2026, 'Identifying Stakeholders in a S-LCA: Working from home (WFH) and the Social impact on Central Business Districts (CBDs)', S-LCA (Social Life Cycle Assessment) Conference at JAPFA The Learning Centre (JTLC), 17-19 June, Bogor, Jakarta Greater Area, Indonesia.
Dougall, S. 2026. on the State Development and Public Works Organisation (Critical Minerals) and Other Legislation Amendment 2026, Queensland Parliament.
For information about opportunities to work or collaborate with us, contact us future-regions.admin@sydney.edu.au