Qualifications Doctor of Philosophy - University of Hawaii Master of Urban and Regional Planning - University of Hawaii Bachelor of Architecture - School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi University Dr Bhishna Bajracharya is an Associate Professor of Urban Planning at the Mirvac School of Sustainable Development, Bond University, Gold Coast. He is also currently serving as the research coordinator of the School. Prior to joining Bond, he taught at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) for twelve years. While at QUT, he acted as the course coordinator for the undergraduate planning program for four years. He also worked as a post doctoral fellow at the demography program, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University from 1994 to 1996. While working in Nepal as an architect in the early 1980s, he was involved in the design and development of a number of educational buildings under World Bank funding. Bhishna received his PhD (1994) and Masters degree in Urban Planning (1986) from the University of Hawaii under an East West Center scholarship. He completed his Bachelor in Architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi University in 1979. Bhishna has conducted research in a number of areas which include master planned communities, transit oriented development, knowledge precincts in regional towns, sustainable campus, subtropical design, Local Agenda 21, and urbanization issues in Asian countries. Bhishna, together with academics from QUT’s Creative Industry faculty, recently received an ARC Linkage grant on the use of community narratives and new media in urban planning. Another project he is working on is looking into local government’s roles in disaster management in Queensland, together with QUT staff and Emergency Queensland. He has served as an executive member of the Planning Institute of Australia, Queensland Division for two years and is currently serving on its education committee. He is also a founding member of the Brisbane alumni chapter of the East West Center, a Hawaii based federal research organisation with strong links to the Asia Pacific region and the University of Hawaii. RESEARCH GRANTS Remembering the past, imagining the future: Embedding narrative and new media in urban planning (ARC Linkage LP0882274) (with Greg Hearn, Marcus Froth, Kerry Mallan, from QUT) Partner: Noosa Council, Noosa District State High School, FKP Project Summary This project supports new media creativity and literacy in two Australian communities and helps people participate in the urban planning process. It assists in improving a sense of belonging and fosters human talent and socio-cultural values favourable to creativity and innovation. By empowering people to bring about change within their local community, the project re-invigorates a more contemporary interpretation of community values in a knowledge society. Australia's capacity to interpret and engage with its urban environment is also enhanced by raising awareness of the socio- cultural background, heritage and future aspirations of local community members. Policy into Practice: Adoption of hazard mitigation measures by Local Governments in Queensland Funded by Emergency Queensland (With Iraphne Childs and Peter Hastings from QUT) Project Summary The objective of the research is to examine the adoption of hazard management measures by local governments in Queensland. The research is based on online survey of all local governments in Queensland and focus group workshops with selected councils. Some of the research questions include: 1) how are local governments adopting and integrating hazard mitigation policies?; 2) what are the gaps between policy and practice?; 3) is a regional approach to hazard management at the local government level possible?
Articles
Public-private partnership in disaster management: A case study of the Gold Coast (with Peter Hastings, Iraphne Childs, and Peter McNamee), Australian journal of emergency management (2012)
Public-private partnership has important roles to play in disaster management, including building business and community...
Evolving governance model for community building: Collaborative partnerships in master planned communities (with Shahed Khan), Urban policy and research (2010)
The development and management of master planned communities (MPCs) involve achieving the twin goals of...
The Second Life of urban planning? Using NeoGeography tools for community engagement (with Marcus Foth, Ross Brown, and Greg Hearn), Journal of location based services (2009)
The majority of the world's citizens now live in cities. Although urban planning can thus...
Integrating sustainability and principles of Local Agenda 21: A study of four local governments in NSW and QLD (with Shahed Khan), Australian planner (2004)
Local Agenda 21 (LA21) under the 1992 Earth Summit charter highlighted the important role of...
Demographic and employment change in mega-cities of south-east and east Asia (with G. Jones and C. Tsay), Third world planning review (2000)
Book Chapters
Promoting: Programs for and challenges of the knowledge-based small business (with Joan K. Imukuka, Linda Too, and Greg Hearn), Building prosperous knowledge cities (2012)
Green transit oriented development and subtropical design (with Daniel O'Hare and Jason Byrne), A climate for growth: Planning South-East Queensland (2010)
Extract:
In this chapter we review the historical development of TOD as an idea...
Integrating regional and infrastructure planning: Lessons from South East Queensland, Australia (with Michael Regan), Sustainable urban and regional infrastructure: Technology, planning and management (2010)
Economic and social infrastructure provision presents a conundrum for urban planners, especially in high growth...
Emerging role of ICT in the development of knowledge-based master planned communities (with Janelle Allison), Sustainable Development (2008)
With the recent trends toward knowledge-based urban development and networked society, information and communication technologies...
Sustainability framework for transit oriented development in South East Queensland (with Shahed Khan), Queensland: Geographical perspectives (2006)
Extract:
Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is currently being advocated as an effective land use...
Conference Papers
Building capability for disaster resilience (with Lynn Crawford and Craig Langston), 28th Annual Conference of Association of Researchers in Construction Management (ARCOM) (2012)
All levels of government recognise the widespread devastation of communities by natural or other disasters....
Transforming the tourist city into a knowledge and healthy city: Reinventing Australia's Gold Coast (with Daniel O'Hare and Isara Khanjanasthiti), IFKAD-KCWS 2012 joint conference - Knowledge, innovation and sustainability: Integrating micro and macro perspectives (2012)
Purpose – With rapid growth of Australia’s Gold Coast into a tourist consumption city (Mullins...
Planning and design of master-planned communities for healthy living (with Linda Too), 5th Healthy Cities conference: Working together to achive liveable cities (2012)
Due to growing health concerns linked to inactive living, a number of new master-planned communities...
Building active and healthy communities: An analysis of council initiatives (with Shahed Khan), State of Australian Cities national conference (SOAC 2011) (2011)
Extract:
Historically, Town Planning has been concerned with protecting public health and safety. Indeed, earliest town...
Role of local government in disaster management: Findings from regional towns in Queensland (with Iraphne Childs and Peter Hastings), State of Australian Cities national conference (SOAC 2011) (2011)
This paper reports selected results from a survey of Queensland local governments, conducted in late...