Sharon Fingland
Background
Sharon is an architect and urban planner with over thirty years of experience participating in major projects in the fields of city planning, housing policy & design, urban research, social policy and the upgrading of older areas.
From 2004 - 2010 Sharon was the Assistant Director of Planning and Research in the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC Ltd), where she was responsible for the integration of strategic outcomes for issues affecting the Western Sydney region, which covers eleven local government areas.
With considerable experience in the policy development of many areas of urban policy and management, Sharon joined the Urban Research Centre in March 2010 to undertake her PhD.
Research
Sharon's thesis entitled Social inclusion: Policy, practice, people and place, submitted for examination in March 2014, explores how social inclusion outcomes could be enhanced in the older suburbs of West-Central Sydney - one of Australia's most culturally diverse sub-regions - by increasing neighbourhood amenity and property value without displacing poorer households. The research combines cross-disciplinary findings and assesses current policy settings that are attempting to deal with increasing social polarisation. Key insights emerge when socio-economic disadvantage is explored through the lens of a social inclusion agenda, revealing the strong association between social exclusion and housing, employment and transport policies, together with the role of individual agencies and structural governance factors in determining poverty and inequality.
She is seeking to reveal the unique territorial relationships between housing, employment and transport capacities and behaviours with a view to enhanced social, economic and sustainability outcomes in Sydney's West Central planning sub-region.
For further information, you contact Sharon on s.fingland@uws.edu.au.