Dr Sharon Harwood ~ Senior Lecturer

Sharon is a Registered Planner of the Planning Institute of Australia and continues to practice as a social and urban planner.  Sharon currently lectures in Environmental and Regional Planning, Native Title and Land Use Planning and Indigenous Environmental Management and is the course co-ordinator for  the Graduate Certificate in Planning for Indigenous Communities. 

Sharon thoroughly enjoys working with students, colleagues, government and industry in work integrated learning projects.  Between January and June 2015 Sharon project managed and delivered the JCU Ingham CBD Concept Masterplan for the Hinchinbrook Shire Council on behalf of the JCU Planning students and staff, along with industry collaborators. This project was subsequently awarded the James Cook University Award for Excellence - Community Engagement in December 2015. 

Sharon has been advocating for the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples knowledge, culture and tradition to be included in the planning system.  In 2016 she successfully lobbied the Queensland government to include a provision that acknowledged Indigenous Planning goals while the planning system underwent reform.  Sharon has since co-authored the Policy Statements and Background report on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander planning for the Queensland branch of the Planning Institute of Australia with Edward Wensing.  The recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples knowledge, culture and tradition within a planning statute is the first of its kind in Australia, and the planning policy is the first of its kind for any state division of the Planning Insitute of Australia or any international planning professional body (ie Canada, New Zealand or the United States). 

Sharon has a wide and diverse set of planning skills and experience gained from more than 25 years of working in and with rural and remote communities.  More recently she has been working with two Aboriginal Land Trusts (Hope Vale Congress Aboriginal Corporation and Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation) as a planning advocate to identify the disjuncts in the planning and development system for Aboriginal Land Trusts and Prescribed Body Corporates.  Sharon's primary research interest is centred upon how to create a parallel tradition of Indigenous Planning within the Queensland planning and development system so that Australia's First Nation communities are given the opportunity to create their own development trajectories.

Teaching

• EV3001: Environmental and Regional Planning (Level 3; CNS)
• EV3252: Indigenous Environmental Management (Level 3; CNS)
• EV5001: Environmental and Regional Planning (Level 5; CNS)
• EV5610: Native Title and Land Use Planning (Level 5; CNS)

Interests

Professional

• Acknowledging Traditional Knowledge in planning instruments, Integrating disaster and emergency management knowledge into the planning system, Youth as legitimate partners in community planning

Research

• Remote communities, Indigenous communities, Planning theory, Community Planning, Regional Planning

Teaching

• Active Learning, Alternative subject delivery methods such as online, external, block mode and field trips as learning experiences.

Experience

• 2015 to present - Senior Lecturer, James Cook University (Cairns)
• 2000 to present - Proprietor, Planning Places (Mareeba)
• 2010 to 2015 - Lecturer, James Cook University (Cairns)
• 1992 to 1999 - Ranger, Policy Officer, Department of Forestry (Queensland)

Research Disciplines

• Urban and Regional Planning (1205)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Climate and Climate Change (9603)
• Tourism (9003)
• Natural Hazards (9610)

Awards

• 2015 - James Cook University Award for Excellence - Community Engagement
• 2014 - James Cook University Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning

Memberships

• 2017 - Registered Planner - Planning Institute of Australia
• 2015 - Queensland Environmental Law Association
• 1996 - Corporate Member Planning Institute of Australia - Currently Chair of the Tropical North Queensland Branch, member of State Committee and Education Committee

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• King D, Gurtner Y, Firdaus A, Harwood S and Cottrell A (2016) Land use planning for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation: operationalizing policy and legislation at local levels. International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, 7 (2). pp. 158-172
• Harwood S, Carson D, Wensing E and Jackson L (2014) Natural hazard resilient communities and land use planning: the limitations of planning governance in tropical Australia. Journal of Geography & Natural Disasters, 4 (2). pp. 1-15
• Harwood S, Haynes K, Bird D and Govan J (2014) Children's perceptions and adaptive behaviours in response to seasonal change and extreme weather in Broome, Western Australia. Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 29 (1). pp. 39-44
• Wensing E, Harwood S, Bird D and Haynes K (2014) Conflicting world views: disjuncture between climate change knowledge, land use planning and disaster resilience in remote Indigenous communities in northern Australia. Geography Research Forum, 34. pp. 92-108
• Harwood S, Prideaux B and Schmallegger D (2011) Social equity in regional development planning: who plans for remote communities? Journal of Contemporary Issues in Business and Government, 17 (1). pp. 13-30
• Harwood S (2011) Regional plans and remote settlements: the implications of statutory planning upon resource dependent economies. Queensland Planner, 51 (3). pp. 12-17

Books

• Bird D, Govan J, Murphy H, Harwood S, Haynes K, Carson D, Russell S, King D, Wensing E, Tsakissiris N and Larkin S (2013) Future Change in Ancient Worlds: Indigenous adaptation in northern Australia. National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Gold Coast, Qld, Australia

Book Chapters

• Murphy H and Harwood S (2017) Walking on country with Bana Yarralji Bubu: a model for Aboriginal social enterprise tourism. In: Social Entrepreneurship and Tourism: philosophy and practice. Tourism on the Verge. Springer, Cham, Switzerland, pp. 295-314
• Harwood S, Wensing E and Ensign P (2016) Place based planning in remote regions: Cape York Peninsula, Australia and Nunavut, Canada. In: Settlements at the Edge: remote human settlements in developed nations. New Horizons in Regional Science. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, pp. 124-150
• Prideaux B, Thompson M and Harwood S (2016) Renewing and re-invigorating settlements: a role for tourism? In: Settlements at the Edge: remote human settlements in developed nations. New Horizons in Regional Science. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, pp. 337-356
• Harwood S and Noske R (2014) The complexities of community-based tourism: how external forces influence the sustainability of bird watching tourism in the remote Arfak Mountains of West Papua. In: Rainforest Tourism, Conservation and Management: challenges for sustainable development. Earthscan Forest Library. Routledge, pp. 289-303
• Harwood S, Carson D, Marino E and McTurk N (2011) Weather hazards, place and resilience in the remote Norths. In: Demography at the edge: remote human populations in developed nations. International Population Studies. Ashgate Publishing, Surrey, England, pp. 307-320

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 22+ research outputs authored by Dr Sharon Harwood from 2007 onwards.

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

• Understanding the Challenges Faced by Remote Settlements in Harsh Environments and Adaption Techniques Employed by Communities and Individuals. An Extreme Case Study. (PhD , Primary Advisor)

Completed

• Learning on country with Bana Yarralji Bubu: educational tourism and Aboriginal development aspirations (2017, PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Future challenges for older adults residing in ageing coastal hamlets on Queensland's cyclone-prone coastline (2017, PhD , Secondary Advisor)

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.