Responding to regional disadvantage: what can be learned from the overseas experience?

This paper provides a conceptual and policy context for research by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute: University of New South Wales and University of Western Sydney Research Centre that examines aspects of Australian regional policy. The paper explores two main policy areas: social disadvantage, including its regional manifestation in Australia; and Australian regional policy in an historical and contemporary context. The research that will follow this paper will examine and consider relevance to the Australian context of the regional disadvantage policies of key international bodies, including the European Union (EU), the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).