Uneasy bedfellows: Integrating urban research and policymaking in Australia

This chapter examines the urban research–policy nexus in Australia. It identifies why urban research and policymaking have made for uneasy bedfellows. The troubled relationship between the two is a longstanding area of debate globally and studies suggest that, while interest and imperatives exist for enhanced integration, operationalising it is fraught with doubts and obstacles (for example, Troy 2013; Hurley and Taylor 2016). This chapter suggests opportunities for better integration in the future.

The chapter begins with a brief assessment of why urban research should be integrated into policymaking. It then synthesises the main points of tension and barriers that exist in linking with urban research. Finally, it examines ways in which urban research is linked to practice in contemporary Australia and considers potential pathways for more deeply embedding these. Throughout, we acknowledge the challenge posed to both researchers and policy practitioners by the multifaceted idea of ‘the urban’, and account for this in our proposals for the future.