Research
The Hugo Centre’s work addresses the global challenge of population change.
Our research advances basic knowledge and informs public debate and decision making around the world. We integrate insights from different academic disciplines and partnerships with community, industry and government organizations.
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Demography and the 'Life Course'
Demographic change is a constant force that in the long term causes tectonic shifts in societies, cultures and economies.
Gradual adjustments in birth rates, death rates and migration patterns drive population growth in some regions and ageing in others. These trends change the nature of work, family and community life, urban planning, and public policy making.
How can we understand and manage the impacts of processes like population growth and ageing on family structures, differences between rural and urban spaces, and service delivery schemes in housing, health and other areas?
Our researchers in this area are:
Please visit our Researcher Profiles for more information about completed and current projects.
Recent projects
- Inner City Ageing: A longitudinal study of an innovative mixed use high rise ‘village’
By 2030 two-thirds of the world’s population will be living in cities, and in many of these cities, at least a quarter of those urban populations will be aged 60+. New city and city fringe age specific housing, such as the Uniting Communities development in Franklin Street, means we need to think about a new use for urban spaces. We need to imagine how the built environment can become a public resource, a social opportunity, and an enabler of ageing and living well in inner city environments. This interdisciplinary project, with Professor Veronica Soebarto from Architecture follows Uniting Communities’ new inner city carbon neutral, mixed-use ‘vertical village’, exploring how the building performs and how residents and users of the building create a sense of neighbourhood through the development phase and the first five years.
- Groundtruthing Age Friendly Cities using Citizen Science
What cities and neighbourhoods are really age friendly and what does it mean to be age friendly from an older person’s perspective? This is a long term, multi-faceted approach, through multiple projects, towards a global comparative study that ‘ground-truths’ or ‘audits’ age friendly cities and communities using a citizen science model of data collection and analysis. This uses an innovative methodological approach that takes the older person’s perspective of their neighbourhood and how age friendly it is; auditing (measuring and reviewing) attributes of their personal neighbourhood or life spaces using the Age Friendly Cities guidelines.
- Inner City Ageing: A longitudinal study of an innovative mixed use high rise ‘village’
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Migration, diaspora and diversity
Understanding and managing large-scale population movements is one of the most urgent long-term challenges facing humanity.
Our research aims to address fundamental questions such as:
- Why do people migrate?
- How does migration relate to broader processes of demographic transition, environmental change, socio-economic development, and political conflict?
- How do migrants and their communities adapt to new circumstances?
- What role do racism and ethnic communities play in the process of immigrant settlement?
- What kinds of social diversity and transnational connection arise when people uproot?
- What does migration mean for origin and receiving societies?
- How is migration managed and governed at local, national and international levels?
Our researchers in this area are:
Please visit our Researcher Profiles for more information about completed and current projects.
Recent projects
- South Australia’s Multicultural Story
A long history of migration to South Australia has shaped the size and composition of its population, which comprises people from approximately 200 birthplace groups, who speak approximately 180 languages at home and observe more than 95 religions. Created by the Hugo Centre for Migration and Population Research (University of Adelaide) in collaboration with Multicultural Affairs, Department of the Premier and Cabinet South Australia, this interactive Story Map explores the post-World War II history of migration to South Australia and the characteristics of the migrants who have made South Australia their home.
- The interactive web-based resource is best viewed on a desktop/laptop computer, using an updated internet browser. Recommended internet browsers include: Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Internet Explorer 11 (compatibility view not supported) and Safari. A summarised PDF version of the Story Map is available for download.
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Population processes and environmental change
Environmental change is one of the defining challenges of our age.
Environmental change both causes and is caused by population change. For example, shifts in the physical environment may shape human mobility both directly (for example as a response to extreme weather events), or indirectly, (for example through the gradual impacts of sea-level rise on other economic, social, cultural, and political drivers of migration).
Conversely, population growth and change affects patterns of land use, resource processing, urban design, transport and waste disposal that may transform the physical environment.
Our research aims to undertake comparative studies on the nexus between environmental change and human population change, to make theoretical advances in this area, and to inform practical efforts to achieve a sustainable future.
Our researchers in this area are:
Please visit our Researcher Profiles for more information about completed and current projects.
Recent projects
- Transnationalism and Diaspora: Enhancing Demography’s Contribution to Migration and Development (Discovery Projects)
Awarded by Australian Research Council. This study rethinks demographic concepts of population and migration to incorporate elements such as diaspora, circular migration, and transnational linkages. It shows how the use of traditional demographic data with integrated quantitative and qualitative research can yield important insights into diaspora, in particular, the diaspora–migration-development nexus. Four country case studies (China, Indonesia, Singapore and Australia) will be undertaken to increase understanding of the characteristics of diasporas, their multi-scalar and multi-dimensional linkages, and their potential for enhancing development in origin countries. This study will generate policy advice for governments and other stakeholders about how to maximise the development potential of diaspora and facilitate policy discussions within Australia and the Asia-Pacific region as a whole.
- Climate Change and Migration in China: Theoretical, Empirical and Policy Dimensions (Discovery Projects)
Awarded by Australian Research Council. The impact of climate change on population distribution is not well understood. This study focuses in detail on two of the main hotspots of likely climate change in China – one due to experience desertification, the other a delta area expected to experience sea level rise and increased storm surges. The effects of climate change are modelled and the potential impact on human settlement analysed. Existing migration patterns and trends are examined and the likely effects of climate change modelled. The implications of the findings of the study for migration theory and for climate change adaptation and mitigation policy and practice are examined.
- Transnationalism and Diaspora: Enhancing Demography’s Contribution to Migration and Development (Discovery Projects)
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Social applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) offers a powerful integrating platform for social, spatial and environmental information, with potential to generate new knowledge and opportunities.
This research theme shares a consistent concern for people and social justice, and the desire to use and develop spatial technologies to advance demographic and migration analysis, service planning, reporting, funding allocations and social research.
The Hugo Centre's work builds on the National Key Centre of Social Applications of GIS (GISCA).
Our researchers in this area are:
Please visit our Researcher Profiles for more information about completed and current projects.
Recent projects
ARIA+ is a continuous varying index with values ranging from 0 (high accessibility) to 15 (high remoteness), and is based on road distance measurements from over 12,000 populated localities to the nearest Service Centres in five size categories based on population size. The resulting index is a 1km grid covering all of Australia for which accessibility/remoteness values can be extracted for any geographic location of interest.
ARIA+ Order form
The University of Adelaide geocoding Service, MapMonkey, is an innovative geocoding service which has been developed for use by University of Adelaide staff and postgraduate students. MapMonkey offers high accuracy geocoding of address data so that tabular data can be mapped and analysed spatially, providing a new perspective on complex datasets by considering the value of location.
Using GIS and Citizen Science to Explore Neighbourhood Influences on Ageing Well, this pilot project adopts a citizen science approach using a GIS based smart phone audit tool for data collection by older persons to appraise and record their use of public and green spaces within their neighbourhoods. The data collected will measure their life spaces, neighbourhood size and use of public and green spaces to inform the development of more age friendly built environments.
Past projects
Location has played an important role in the dissemination of government funding to section 90 pharmacies under the Rural Pharmacy Maintenance Allowance (RPMA) and other rural allowances administered by the Department of Health. The RPMA aims to facilitate, “improved access to Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (PBS) medicines and pharmacy services for people in rural and remote regions of Australia, through the provision of a support allowance which recognises the additional financial burden of maintaining a pharmacy in these areas” (RPMA Program Guidelines, July 2015).
The Hugo Centre (under its former identity, APMRC) was engaged by the Department of Health to address a series of research questions relating to the geographic access and spatial clustering of pharmacies in addition to other research questions based on the location of pharmacies across Australia. Each of the research questions proposed were based on analysis of pharmacies for three snapshot periods: 30 June 1990; 30 June 2007; and 30 June 2014. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) spatial analysis techniques were applied to consider the specific location based questions proposed by the Department.